SubRosa
by mykkhal
Summary: Camouflage the truth, hide it, disguise it, obscure it, but it still comes out. When it finally escapes, is it just lives that are changed, or is it the entire world? J and B slash. After 3 years, a new chapter is finally up! Yep, I suck.
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimers:** As much as I may wish differently, I don't own Mutant X or its characters. I'm just borrowing, really. I promise to put the boys back in much better moods.

**Other stuff:**  
This story will eventually have SLASH – yup, hot man-on-man squishiness. Have issues with that? Get over 'em. Trust me - you'll be much happier, just like the boys.

Also, consider this AU because I may get some of the canon details wrong.

Feedback is most welcome. This is my first Mutant X fic – and the first thing I've written in many years.

* * *

Brennan rolled over in his bed, the sheets twisting around his legs. He kicked at them, pushing them lower until his legs were finally free. He glanced at the clock and sighed when he saw that it read nearly three in the morning.

He felt as though millions of ants crawled beneath his skin; a constant kinetic energy he could not ignore. He had spent too many recent nights this way, his own body feeling foreign to him after the events at Hillview State Penitentiary. Adam said the last traces of the injected steroid had dissipated from his system days ago, but Brennan still felt the effects. He felt his mutant electrical charge humming beneath his skin, still excited from the aggression and adrenaline rush nearly two weeks ago.

He rolled over again, taking a deep breath, intended to help him relax. Minutes passed, which seemed like hours to Brennan, until he finally rose from the mattress, giving up on sleep for the night.

Pulling athletic shorts onto his naked body, and nothing else, he made his way down to the training area. He quickly queued up the holographic sequence that he had repeated nightly since his return and watched as Jesse materialized in front of him. However, this Jesse had an arrogance and confidence not seen on the real man.

Jesse's mouth twitched into a wry smile. "Think you can take me this time?"

"Not just this time. Each and every time," Brennan snarled back.

"Certainly wasn't the case at the prison. There I was, trying to help you, holding back so I didn't hurt you, and you gave me all you had. It even stung a little, I admit," Jesse chuckled. "But let's see, remind me again. Who ended up winning that match?"

Brennan saw that Jesse's damn smile had returned. _Fucking asshole!_, he thought to himself. "Let's just do this."

"Fine with me. But let me know when you've started – I'm not sure I'll notice." Jesse bantered back.

Furiously, Brennan fired electricity at Jesse, who had the nerve to look away, as if the onslaught meant nothing to him. Brennan screamed and aimed a kick at Jesse's head.

* * *

An hour or so later, Brennan dragged himself away from the training platform. The fight had been brutal, just as it had been every night. Yet he'd gotten the two things he needed from the encounter.

First, he'd released a lot of pent of energy. For the first time in hours, the march of the million ants had ended below his skin, the electricity quiet for a time. He might be able to sleep now, relaxation finally possible.

Secondly though, he'd once again established his dominance over Jesse in his mind. Why he needed to do this confused him, why he needed to fight Jesse until his body lay before him, broken, bloody, and still. Brennan shook himself at the memory, knowing he had to let this need go, before the rest of the team found out about his nocturnal crimes.

For Brennan, the fact that Jesse had taken everything he could throw at him at the prison and still get up drove him crazy. Brennan knew he had the stronger mutant powers. He knew he had greater physical strength. He had the natural leadership ability that Jesse lacked. But after having taken everything Brennan could throw at him, would Jesse think that their positions had reversed?

Of course, Jesse hadn't acted any differently to Brennan. Brennan knew on a logical level that his leadership position remained unchallenged, but his psyche still waited for a challenger. Jesse plagued his every thought.

* * *

As Brennan walked back to his room, he saw the lights on within Adam's lab. While he couldn't let Adam know about his inner demons, he could certainly tell him about the lingering effect of the steroids. Beating the holographic brains out of his teammate every night wouldn't do as a long-term solution.

He walked into Adam's lab and looked around at the empty room. "Adam? You in here?"

Not hearing a response to his call, Brennan walked further into the lab and glanced at the various workstations. At one of them, he spotted Adam slumped over the keyboard, sleeping.

"All work and no play makes Adam a very dull boy," he muttered to himself. He walked over to Adam, intending to wake him. As he reached out to wake the often stubborn scientist, he glanced at the screen Adam had been working on. His hand fell short of Adam's shoulder, dropping back down to his side as he read what the screen held.

Brennan stared at the text - a record of his treatment after the mission to the prison. Several words jumped off the screen at him, and he decided to let Adam sleep and read what the good scientist had to say.

* * *

"Mulwray continues to complain of side effects of the ST1277 injection. The steroidal compound has been completely flushed from his system and there appears to be no other cause for the reactions that Brennan is experiencing. Tests indicate that the electrical charge in his body is increasing, most likely signaling the onset of another phase of his genetic mutation. The timing of this onset is too coincidental for normal progression of his mutation however. It has either been triggered by the ST1277 compound or by exposure to Jesse Kilmartin during the prison fight at Hillview State Penitentiary. While the steroidal compound seems the most likely suspect, I can find no causal pattern to substantiate it. If this phase is not natural or chemical induced, and has been caused by Kilmartin, I may not be able to control the mutation. In addition to the danger posed to Brennan, should Jesse learn of his involvement, the results could be catastrophic for all of us. I must find the answer before any of the team learns the truth about Jesse and especially before Jesse learns the truth about himself."

* * *

Brennan read the paragraph several times, each time finding new questions he wanted to ask. With each reading his worry grew. He was mutating again? He was in danger? And Jesse may have caused it? He wanted nothing more than to shake Adam awake and demand answers, but based on what he had just read, he knew Adam would never tell him the truth.

He decided to leave Adam there and crept quietly away. If Adam wanted to keep secrets, then Brennan would as well. And he'd find out Adam's secrets in the process.

He stepped out of the lab, glancing left and right down the hallway to make sure no one had seen his exit. He made his way quickly back to his room, all the while thinking of Jesse.

_As if he wasn't in my thoughts enough already. What the hell has he done to me now?_ Brennan thought. _Why does everything keep coming back to Jess?_


	2. Chapter 2

**For disclaimers and other stuff, see Chapter 1, please.**

Jesse awoke slowly, the droning of his alarm clock finally registering. "Fuck," he mumbled, "that was my favorite dream."

He smiled at the memory of it – a dream he often had. Mutants had achieved acceptance out in the world, no longer hiding and hunted. Adam returned to the public as well, finally able provide cures to a myriad of diseases, a life-long goal finally achieved.

In that world, Brennan never kissed Shalimar or rubbed her shoulders. He never gave her sultry smiles, or responded to her breathy voice. Instead, that breathy voice was often heard moaning things like "Oh god, Emma! Yes, right there!"

Jesse felt swelling underneath his sheets at the thought.

However, in spite of how appealing he found the idea of Shal and Em getting together, it was nothing like thinking about Brennan.

In his dream world, he was the one that received soft and tender kisses from Brennan. And not just soft and tender ones, either. Sometimes the kisses were hard and demanding, full of raging passion that simply could not be denied or quenched with only a kiss.

Jesse smiled at the thought and he slid his hand down his chest, under the sheets and into his underwear, freeing his cock to swell without restraint. He closed his eyes and replayed sequences of images from dreams, stroking himself slowly.

Brennan, shirtless and well-muscled, advancing towards him, just had he had in the prison fight. But this time Brennan's eyes burned with passion, not rage, and Jesse willingly accepted him. He moaned softly at the thought of Brennan entering him, filling him, owning him.

And in his dream world, he wasn't just a servant to the will of Master Mulwray, which is often how he felt in the "real world". In his dreams, Brennan would lie back and spread himself open for Jesse, and Jesse would feel himself get lost within the warmth and tightness of the dark-haired and gorgeous man, finding himself when his lips touched Brennan's and they soared together towards exquisite release.

Jesse reached over and grabbed some tissues from the box on his nightstand and cleaned himself up_ So can someone tell me why I want a man who treats me as a little brother at the best of times, and at the worst of times, like now, can't even stand to be around me?_, he asked himself.

Jesse sighed, and rolled out of bed, dreading another day at Sanctuary, as he done so many mornings recently.

* * *

With a bowl of cereal in hand, Jesse wandered into the lab, his mouth crunching noisily. He looked at the assembled members of the team and realized he had arrived last.

"Sorry", he mumbled to Adam, around another bite of cereal.

Jesse scrambled to sit down, and after he did, he looked up to see Adam looking back at him with a small, tolerant smile. "If you're ready to begin?" Adam asked.

"Sheesh!", Jesse heard Brennan exclaim.

"What? I said I'm sorry."

Emma sighed, "Can't you two take a break? Just for a little while. Let's not have a repeat of yesterday. You're already giving me a headache."

"Yeah, you two have been at it for weeks now. Kiss and make up already." Shalimar added, following it up with a teasing grin.

Jesse spit out some of his cereal. "What?" he asked, trying to hide the panic in his voice.

"As if," Brennan muttered, at about the same time.

"How about you all of you deal with your issues on your own time?" Adam broke in, trying to restore order. "Right now, we need to talk about a new mutant that's been discovered."

Emma and Shalimar grinned at each other, and then at the boys, before looking back at Adam. Brennan stared straight ahead, not looking at anyone.

Jesse, seeing that Brennan couldn't even look at him, lowered his eyes sadly, but pointed his head in the general direction of Adam, as if the scientist had his attention. He didn't even flinch when Brennan once again brought up that extra fire power was needed on this mission, meaning that he should go, and Jesse should stay behind.

_You'd think he could at least come up with some original reason, _Jesse thought. _It's becoming a little routine._

_

* * *

_

"Bren," Shal said as she stopped in him the hallway later that afternoon, her hand on his arm. "What's your beef with Jess?"

Brennan took a deep breath and turned to face the feral. "Look, Shal. I know he's like a little brother to you and that you want to protect him. I get it. But he's not a little boy; he needs to grow up before he gets somebody killed."

"Somebody killed?" The feral's eyes gleamed slightly. "As I seem to remember it, you were the one trying to do the killing recently, and it was Jesse who saved your life."

Brennan rolled his eyes. "Don't remind me." He turned to walk away, but Shal's grip on his arm tightened.

"Look, I don't know what's going on in that head of yours, but leave Jesse out of your drama, okay? He doesn't need your shit."

"Whatever," he said, pulling free of her grip and walking away.

"Looks like I know someone who needs a serious ass-whoopin'," she called after him, following him down the hall.

The clicking of the keyboard echoed through the work room as Emma entered. She saw Jesse reclined at one of the work stations, the screens of multiple monitors flipping and changing in front of him.

"Busy?" she asked him.

"No, not really. Just doing the same ol' boring security sweeps."

Emma noticed that he hadn't even looked at her. His eyes remained fixed on the screens in front of him. "Hey – those security sweeps are important. You keep us safe, Jess. Without you, I can't think of how many times Genomex or some other agency would have gotten in and been able to capture us."

"No worries, Em. I'm sure Brennan's mighty fire power would have been able to save you. After all 'phasing and massing isn't going to win the battle'", Jesse said, mimicking Brennan.

"Oh, Jess. Just ignore him. He'll come around eventually."

"Sure, he will. And did you see the flying pig outside?" He shook his head sadly, but then turned to look at her, a smile forced onto his face. "So what did you want to talk to me about, Em?"

Emma let out a slow breath, wondering if altering the emotions of her friends would really be that bad. Invasion of privacy? Sure. Effective? Very. "Nothing, Jess. I'm just worried about you."

"Go work your mojo on Brennan, Emma. I'm not the one with the problem."

_Sure, Jess. We'll pretend you aren't madly in love with a man who treats you like shit. That isn't a problem at all._

_

* * *

_

Emma walked into the lab, hopping up onto a stool near Adam. Adam, engrossed in the microsope he peered through, didn't notice her approach.

"Can I help?" she offered. She hoped that doing some mindless lab work would take her mind off of Jesse and Brennan.

"What?" Adam backed away from the microscope, startled, turning to look at her. His thoughts were all too close to the surface, and she picked them up without even thinking about it.

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed, a look of horror on her face. "You can't kill Jesse!"


	3. Chapter 3

For disclaimers, see chapter 1, please.

* * *

"Oh my god!" she exclaimed, a look of horror on her face. "You can't kill Jesse!"

"Emma! Keep your voice down!" Adam scolded her, looking around to see if anyone could have overheard. "You know better than to believe surface thoughts," he said. "How many times have you thought about killing Shal in your head?"

Emma deflated a little, realizing the truth of it. "So you don't really want to kill Jess?"

Adam brought his hand up to his face, rubbing his thumb and forefinger across his eyes, eventually squeezing at the bridge of his nose. "Emma, I know better than to lie to you; your empathic powers will know the truth of what I'm saying. I just can't talk about this right now. You'll have to trust me that some things are better for you not to know, at least right now."

He stared at her intently. "Will you give me your word that this will stay between us and you won't look into my mind to find out more?"

Emma swallowed nervously. "I promise to keep it between us, and I won't deliberately look in your mind for more information." As Adam's expression registered displeasure, she quickly added. "Look, at long as you keep it out of your surface mind while I'm around, I won't hear anything. You know that if someone is thinking something very loudly in their head, I often just pick it up. I wasn't trying at all a moment ago, but I picked up your thought anyway."

Adam's frown evened out somewhat and he put his hand on her shoulder. "Emma, I need you to shut down when you are around me then. Can you do that?"

Emma sighed. "This is as natural to me as breathing now, Adam, but I'll try."

Adam took her measure for a moment. "Okay, Emma. I'll confide in you when the time is right, okay?"

Emma wandered away from the lab, and ended up sitting in the Sanctuary garden, wishing her thoughts could be as calm as the warm serenely flowing past her. However, questions worried at her mind, demanding answers.

* * *

Brennan sat in his room, absently flicking sparks of electricity between his fingers. The charge beneath his skin simmered, slowly amplifying throughout the day until he would find himself once again battling a holographic Jesse that night, as he had for the past two weeks.

His mind continually asked questions to which he had no answers. He replayed the match at the prison over and over in his head, no longer looking for how Jesse had managed to withstand his attack, but instead looking for how Jesse had changed him. When did it happen? What had Jesse done?

What could Jesse do?

His memory of the fight was cloudy, hazed over by the steroids and resulting aggressive behavior. Much of the fight seemed like a dream now. He could remember hitting Jesse with bolt after bolt, tesla coil after tesla coil, and still the young man hung on and fought back. He remembered Jesse screaming with pain as the current passed through him, enough voltage to have fried an ordinary man.

Wait. An ordinary man.

Jesse hardly classified as an ordinary man, but his mutant powers wouldn't have made him invulnerable to that much electricity. Not even close. As Brennan examined his memories, he realized that he hadn't even seen Jesse use his powers.

Just how had he fought off his attacks? Without the red tint of his pride coloring the whole event, Brennan realized he had a legitimate reason for wanting to know just what secrets Adam kept from them, even kept from Jesse.

Brennan took a deep breath and let his damaged pride escape from the death grip he had on it. It might take time, but he knew he'd bounce back from this. It just took something else to occupy his mind for a while.

He stood up and went off to get some answers.

* * *

Jesse rose from the recumbent chair in front of the computer screens, stretching his torso as he stood. His muscles ached and he knew that he needed a good workout to loosen himself up, as well as reduce some stress. He'd hit the gym a lot lately – it had become a sanctuary within Sanctuary for him. Shal and Emma worked out early in the morning and Brennan usually tried to work out a little bit later, while the girls relaxed in the garden after their workout, with a clear view of Brennan lifting and straining in the gym.

_Arrogant prick_, Jesse thought to himself, more out of jealousy than anything else - jealousy that Brennan wanted to show off for the girls, and not for him.

He headed to the gym, stopping by his quarters to change into his workout clothes. As he exited his room, he saw Shal approaching him and he blushed as she wolf-whistled at him.

"Damn, Jess! You are lookin' good!"

_What do you know, after about six months of intensive workouts, someone finally notices. I guess I'm only nearly invisible, not completely invisible, _he thought. Aloud he said, "Thanks, I've been hitting the gym a little more lately." He tried to edge past her, but she grabbed him.

"It's really showing, Jess. You look great." Playful as ever, Shalimar reached out and grabbed the bottom of his tight t-shirt, raising it a little. "And look at those abs."

"Careful, Shal. Someone might think you were interested in me." Jesse smiled to take any sting out of his words.

Shalimar giggled. "Nah, everyone knows you're the little brother I never had. I'd have to get passed my big sister urge of wanting to dress you up in cute little outfits first."

Jesse looked at her in disbelief. "Don't even think about it."

"Come on, with this hot little body of yours, you'd really fill out a ballerina outfit," she grinned.

Jesse backed away quickly, choosing to take the long route to the gym. "You're evil!" he tossed over his shoulder, as he turned to make his slow retreat a flat out run.

Shalimar just laughed.

* * *

Jesse arrived at the gym and slung a towel over the bench. He put a bar into position for the bench press, wanting to work out his chest first, and started adding plates to each side of the bar. After he had placed three 45 pound plates on each side, he reclined back onto the bench to begin his warm up set.

A few sets later, he had a sheen of sweat lightly covering his whole body. He felt warm and loose, ready to try for his new maximum lift. He replaced the two 25 pound plates he had added a few minutes ago with two 45 pound plates. This put the total bench at 450 pounds.

He knew that he should have a spotter when attempting a max lift, but there were only two people who could possibly assist him. Shalimar could probably help him; she had more strength than appeared within her tiny frame, thanks to her feral side. Even with that, Shal didn't bench anything close to 450 and Jess had no interested in her pushing "cute little outfits" on him at the moment.

Jesse knew that Brennan didn't bench 450 either, at least he didn't that last time Jesse stopped for a drink with the girls while they rested in the garden, conveniently checking out Brennan. Brennan currently lifted 320 pounds on his heavy set, which meant he'd probably max at around 360 to 380.

Jesse chuckled. Times sure had changed. 360 pounds was now his light set. "So, I guess I've finally learned the key to a great body - an inferiority complex compounded by a domineering team leader, mixed with extreme sexual frustration. At least something good has come from this."

Jesse shook his head and lay back down on the bench. He surprised himself by easily lifting the 450 pounds, pushing out half a set quickly. He stopped when he heard footsteps approaching, and quickly set the weight back down on the supports and sat up.

* * *

Brennan walked in, quickly noting the excessive amount of weight on the bar and Jesse's heaving chest.

_Holy shit. When did he get this strong? That's… that's 450. And look at the chest! Even through his shirt, I can tell he's ripped as hell._

And then Brennan's wounded pride woke up and started yelling, and it all went down hill from there.

"Jess, it doesn't count as a workout if you phase the weights into nothingness before you lift them."

Jesse stared at him, shock plainly evident on his face. "What are you talking about?"

"Jess, we both know you couldn't lift that without a little help from your powers. I'm just saying that it's cheating to do that. That's all I'm saying." Brennan gave him a smug little smile.

Jesse stared at him a moment longer and then got up from the bench and grabbed his towel. "Then listen to what I'm saying, Brennan Mulwray."

Brennan frowned at the use of his full name.

"Don't call me Jess anymore. My friends call me Jess, and I'm tired of trying to be your friend. We're through. From now on, call me Mr. Kilmartin." Jesse moved towards the exit, but Brennan blocked him.

"Well don't get all up in a huff, _Mr. Kilmartin_." Brennan rolled his eyes as he said it. "Obviously, you're a little sensitive. Finish your fantasy workout. What do I care?"

With that, he stormed out of the room, slamming the door to the gym behind him. He strode down the hallway, desperate to escape the situation he had just caused.

_Fuck! What the hell just happened?_ he wondered. _I wanted to talk to him, to smooth things over. And then my fucking mouth has to go off. Why did I do it?_

_

* * *

_

Jesse sat down on the bench heavily. Tears filled his eyes and splashed down his cheeks.

_What did I do? Why would he treat me that way? _His face fell into his hands, and he began sobbing. _What's wrong with me?_

After a few minutes, he rose from the bench, deciding his workout didn't have any appeal anymore. He turned to the bar and grabbed one of the plates. As he slid it from the bar and lifted it into the air, it slipped from his fingers, fingers wet from his tears.

The plate plummeted towards his foot, and he watched it fall. His brain kept telling him to phase, to avoid the broken foot looming in his future, but he couldn't exhale to start the process; his lungs gasped in air instead.

The plate continued to fall and Jesse's eyes remained rivted to it. When it happened, he saw every moment of it.

The plate, the plate he had no physical contact with, phased in front of him, sliding through his foot and disappearing through the floor. He looked at the floor confused, and then heard the dull clatter of the plate landing in the basement level beneath him.

He looked at his hands, the hands that had not touched the plate while it fell.

"Huh. That was different."


	4. Chapter 4

**For disclaimers, see chapter 1, please.**

If it surprised Adam that Jesse didn't argue to go on the evening's mission, he didn't show it.

Instead, Adam sat back and observed the new dynamic between him and Brennan. Tonight's mission entailed nothing more than a meet and greet, followed by a handoff to the mutant underground. While Brennan always demanded to be on the higher risk missions, if not all the missions, he'd occasionally back off and not fight Jesse's insistence on going.

Tonight, Jesse didn't even ask to go and Brennan made no mention of Jesse during the entire briefing. Adam knew that something had altered their, well, tenuous friendship, and needed to find out what happened.

This did not follow the plan, and that worried him.

* * *

Jesse sat through the mission briefing, the discussion between the others flowing around him like water, never disturbing the pool of his own thoughts. He focused on one thing – the metal plate that had phased before him. 

After it had fallen through the floor, he quickly raced down to the basement level and retrieved it. When he picked it up off the concrete, it was hard and solid and heavy – completely normal. The floor showed some chipping where it landed, indicating it had phased back to normal density while still falling.

Jesse closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Since he'd seen the plate fall, something itched at the back of his mind, as if he had a familiarity with all of this that he couldn't recognize, like a name on the tip of his tongue but just out of reach.

Adam's voice over his comm-ring had jolted his eyes back open. After agreeing to join everyone in the briefing room shortly, Jesse rushed the plate back up to the gym and then took a quick shower.

Once again, Adam's voice startled him back to awareness. "Jesse – you okay? You were silent during the whole briefing. Did something happen with Brennan?"

Jesse looked around to see that the others had left; only he and Adam remained. He opened his mouth to tell Adam about what had happened, but the words wouldn't come. The itch in the back of his head suddenly grew insistent. He looked up into Adam's eyes. "Nothing to worry about, Adam. You know how me and Brennan get sometimes." He forced a wry smile on his face, one he knew Adam had seen countless times before.

Adam held his eyes for a moment, and Jesse struggled to keep his face open and passive, instinctively feeling he needed to keep the true situation to himself.

"But come to me if you need to talk about it, okay?"

"Sure, Adam. I always do," Jesse replied, his smile still firmly attached.

Adam nodded, and Jesse watched as he turned around and headed out the door. After he left, Jesse released the breath he hadn't known he held.

* * *

"What's wrong, Bren? Got ants in your pants or something?" 

Brennan looked over at Shalimar, his eyes sweeping the empty warehouse. "Wanna come look for yourself?" he shot back playfully.

Shalimar's smile grew larger. "Oh, I'm sure there's nothing I haven't seen in there before." She paused for a moment. "Other than the size difference, of course."

Emma glanced quickly at Brennan's crotch and then over at Shalimar. She didn't join many of the missions, but as tonight's involved a psionic, Adam had requested her assistance. She knew that Shalimar and Brennan had attended many of the missions by themselves, and now she wondered what they had gotten up to on those late nights. "Size difference, Brennan?"

Brennan looked over at Emma cockily. "Well, you know how I hate to argue with a lady, Emma."

Shalimar cut in quickly, eyes rolling, "Yeah, right." She turned to Emma. "We're just teasing. I have no idea what Brennan keeps in his jeans. Though," she added, the feral gleam brightening her eyes as her look drifted towards Brennan's crotch, "my hopes aren't high, based on the evidence at hand."

Emma giggled as Brennan's jaw dropped. It amazed her that Shalimar could tease him so easily. From watching his workouts, Emma knew quite well that Brennan filled out his gym shorts nicely.

"Now that does it. Don't make me prove you wrong right here, Shal." Brennan's hands went to the button at the top of his jeans.

Emma perked up at this comment. She ran through taunts in her head, wondering which one might make him drop his trousers. Before she could say anything, Shal looked to far side of the warehouse.

"He's here. And I don't think he's alone." Shal leapt up onto a crate, seeking higher ground. "And, seriously, stop fidgeting, Brennan. It's distracting. You've been on edge all night."

Brennan ignored her, and spoke into his ring. "Jesse? What's going on? I need a reading. Shal says there are multiple targets."

Brennan waited a few seconds for a response.

"Jesse? Where are you, man?"

His ring remained silent.

* * *

Back at Sanctuary, Jesse toyed with a quarter, tossing it up in the air while he waited for word from the team at the warehouse. Ever since he'd gained his mutant powers at 16, he'd worked on his control with random objects, usually a coin, just in case someone saw him. He'd toss the quarter into the air. By the time the quarter had reached the top of its arc, he'd try to snatch it out of the air. If he could, he'd failed. If instead his hand passed through the quarter, he'd made it halfway. The next part involved getting his hand back down, and back to normal, in time to catch the quarter before it fell. Over and over he had practiced this move until it felt as natural as breathing. Adam had given it to him as a drill shortly after they'd met, attempting to help Jesse gain some control. 

Earlier in the afternoon though, he'd had no control. His breathing had failed him. That left him with two objectives – get his control back and find out how he had phased the plate.

After a good 50 successful tosses, he felt confident in his control. He hadn't missed one toss.

"Okay," he breathed aloud to no one but himself. "Let's do this."

He laid one of his hands flat on the table, palm down. With his other hand, he placed the quarter on the back of his stationary hand. This setup traced back to the first exercise Adam had ever given him. He'd phase his hand, and the quarter would fall through it, landing on the desk. He'd lift his hand away and return it back to normal. The simplicity of it taught Jesse well.

Later, after Mutant X had experienced the various power boosts, Jesse had retreated back to this exercise to gain control over his new abilities. Walking through it once again, he placed the quarter on the back of his hand, but this time he held his hand aloft. This time he focused on the quarter, and watched as it phased and fell through his hand, solidifying again as it broken through the other side, losing contact with his skin. It clicked against the desk as it landed, twirling a little as it settled against the flat surface.

"So far so good."

Jesse slid the quarter to the edge of the desk, perhaps only an inch from the edge. He slipped his hand under the desk, touching his palm to the underside. Keeping his fingers in contact with the wood, he cupped his palm at little, preparing to catch the quarter. With this exercise he would phase the desk and the let the quarter fall through into his solid hand. It required a little more concentration, keeping an object phased while he himself stayed solid. He ran through this exercise many times, catching the quarter and returning it to sit on the edge of the desk.

Jesse glanced around the room, ensuring that Adam hadn't walked in quietly. Jesse had passed on the mission so that he could have some time by himself to try this next part. With three of the team gone on the mission, and Adam working in his lab, he had the most privacy he'd be likely to get.

Jesse set up the quarter once again and then dropped his hand below the desk. This time though, he let his hand drift away from the desk, not touching it at all. He focused on phasing the desk, as if he touched it, the same routine as always – just that he didn't have contact this time.

Stubbornly, the desk did not phase. Jesse tried over and over, but it simply would not lose density.

"Damn it! Just fall through already!" he ordered the quarter in frustration.

His eyes opened in surprise as the quarter did just that. It phased and fell through the table, regaining density before it landed in his grasp. Jesse felt none of the concentration he would normally need to phase anything. It simply happened.

Jesse put the quarter back on top of the desk, and his hand took its position below. This time he looked at the quarter and didn't concentrate at all, blocking out all of his training. He willed the quarter to phase, and suddenly it did, dropping into his hand.

"Whoa. That was weird," he said, sitting back in his chair.

"What weird?" Adam asked, entering the computer lab. "Something wrong with the mission?"

"Uh…" Jesse quickly glanced at the monitors to get a status on his team members, and found that he'd lost their signals. "Yeah, they just suddenly went dark."

A wave of guilt hit Jesse in the chest. His team needed him to watch their back, and instead he'd been more concerned with himself. He scanned the logs quickly, and the guilt eased slightly when he saw that only a few seconds had elapsed between losing the signal and him looking at the monitors. He hadn't really screwed up.

_Though if Adam hadn't walked in, how long would it have taken me to notice?_

* * *

Shalimar signaled to Brennan that 12 GSA agents approached. She leapt again to a better vantage point and disappeared from his view. 

"There's twelve, Em, too many for just Shal and me to fight. Sanctuary won't answer. How many can you take on?"

Brennan watched as Emma considered it. "I could probably generate a psionic blast big enough to knock 5 or 6 of them out, if they were all standing together. If I had to do it one on one, I might only get 2 or 3."

Brennan looked at her, taking his own measure of her abilities.

"Okay, here's what we're going to do," he whispered. "I'll use some tesla coils to herd as many as I can together. Knock out as many as you can with one big burst, but save some energy for defense in case you need it. Once you've dropped your psi-bomb, I want you to run like hell. Shal and I will deal with the left overs."

Brennan planned on only bringing together 2 or 3 of the agents, wanting to ensure Emma didn't over-exert herself. He mainly wanted her to get out of there and reach safety, but he knew she wouldn't leave while she thought she could help.

"Okay, be ready."

Brennan slipped out from behind crate they had hid behind and exposed himself to the agents. He knew Shalimar would circle behind the agents, probably up in the rafters of the warehouse. Once he made his move, she'd jump into the fray.

The agents had spread out, diminishing the odds of a group attack succeeding against them. The agents carried a variety of weapons, from the standard electrical stun wand to some high-tech looking guns. Looking at the group, they all appeared to be standard GSA agents, not a mutant among them.

"_Well, that makes things easier,"_ he thought. "_And I've been itching for some fun for weeks." _The electrical hum beneath his skim picked up in intensity. "_I so need to blow off some volts."_

"Hold it right there, Mutant!" he heard one of the agents say.

"How about not?" Brennan shot a tesla coil at the agent on his far left with his left hand and another coil with his right hand at the agent on his right. Both leapt inward, tightening their ranks a little.

The agents suddenly charged towards him, and he let the electricity surge out of him, trying to drive them closer to each other. Only this time, he didn't throw individual coils – his charge flew at them in a continuous current, striking all around them.

He watched as Shalimar plunged from the ceiling to the floor, landing easily next to a guard and dropping him with a well-planted kick. Shalimar looked at him, confused.

Brennan felt the confusion as well. He normally didn't stream electricity like this, not a constant flow. He tried to pull his charge back, but it wouldn't listen to him, and if anything, it grew.

An arc raced towards Shalimar, out of his control. She jumped out of its way, just missing it. At least half of the agents had already fallen – hit with more voltage than they could handle, even with their protective gear.

Brennan started to panic. "Shal! Em! Get out of here, I can't control this!" Brennan watched in a combination of horror and fascination as his streaks of electrical energy began to coalesce together, strengthening into a tighter, stronger current. The feeling of the million ants beneath his skin hummed louder than ever, tying into the current, feeding it life and strength.

He pulled back with everything he had, every bit of control he had to exert, attempting to draw the electricity back within himself, needing to ensure Shalimar and Emma's safety. As he fought to reign in his power, he felt an expansion within his chest as the electricity raced back towards him.

He felt pain and then soon after he felt nothing at all.

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Marie Crosby – thanks for the encouragement.

Lady Lenna – I'm glad you like it. Brennan always struck me a little smug on the show, and I wanted to play around with that. He'll be a much bigger ass by the time this is over, believe me.

Feral's Revenge – Thanks so much for the extended feedback. I do have a storyline plotted out; let's hope I can stick to it! The boys aren't getting out of "Hard Times" anytime soon.

Reviews are kinda like a Pringles - you can't eat just one. Feed me! ;-)


	5. Chapter 5

**For disclaimers, please see chapter 1.**

"Emma, can you hear me?" Shalimar called out into the darkness.

"Shal, I'm over here."

Shalimar swung her head towards the voice, her feral eyes gleaming. "I can't see you. Stay where you are, I'll come to you."

She cautiously crept through the nearly pitch black warehouse. Her heart still pounded fiercely in her chest. She kept an eye out for agents, but she guessed that any that had survived… well, survived Brennan, would have left already. Her keen sense of smell burdened her more than it helped in this instance; the stench of roasted flesh wafted through the building in waves.

_I can't believe we're even alive after that. Brennan must have controlled it somehow, at least enough to save us._

Shalimar felt the sobs rising in her chest, threatening to overtake her. She couldn't let that happen though, not now. She needed to get Emma back to safety, and she needed to recover Brennan's body. Mason Eckhardt wouldn't get a chance to study Brennan, even in death.

Her eyes watered at the thought, and she blinked away the tears savagely. She let her feral nature emerge more, her human emotions taking a back seat to the clearer thoughts of her animal side. She needed to save what remained of her family. Nothing else mattered more.

"Emma?" she queried, reaching the approximate place she had heard the psionic's voice.

"I'm here, Shal," Emma replied, feeling her way out from behind a crate in the darkness. "Are the agents gone?"

"I can't sense any, none alive, anyway."

"Okay." Suddenly a glow suffused the area, radiating out from a spot in front of Emma's forehead. "It's not much," she said, looking at Shalimar, "but it should help us a little."

Shalimar nodded. "We need to find Bren and take him back to Sanctuary."

Emma wiped a few tears from her face. "I can't sense him, Shal. I think he's gone."

"I know," she replied, wrapping her arms around the younger woman, "but we need to get out of here."

Emma sniffled and then nodded over to a wall. "I think he fell over there," her last sight of Brennan branded into her eyes.

* * *

"Shal! Em! Get out of here, I can't control this!" 

Emma wanted to run, but she couldn't move. A thick knot of electrical energy headed towards Brennan, his face strained and distorted with the effort of trying to control his power.

She watched helplessly as the knot engulfed him, electrical currents streaking across his body faster and faster, building a greater and greater charge. His whole body began to take on a bluish white glow, thousands of sparks swarming him like a plague of fireflies.

"Brennan!" she screamed, seeing him writhe in pain. More than anything, she wanted to rush to his side and help him, but she couldn't move.

She looked over at Shalimar briefly, but back again at Brennan as the light pulsed slowly a few times, and then more with increasing frequency.

Without any warning, a combination of light and electricity exploded from Brennan, and Emma had a brief glimpse of him flying back towards a wall, but the light blinded her. When it faded, everything went dark.

* * *

"Emma, check your ring. Is it working?" 

Emma glanced down at her hand. "Jesse? Adam? Can you hear me?"

"It's no good, Em. It's just like mine – it's dead. See, the design is gone."

Emma took a better look at her ring, and saw what Shalimar had noticed. The design on the ring, coded to respond only to their individual DNA sequences, did not display on the ring. Instead, it looked like a simple silver ring.

"How's that possible? If one of Brennan's coils had hit me, I'd be dead, or at least singed pretty bad."

"Whatever happened to Brennan took out all the electrical equipment in here. Wait! There he is!" Shal rushed over to where Brennan lay, crumpled against the wall. She quickly reached down and pressed her fingers to his throat. "He's still alive!"

"Shal, we've got to get him back to Adam."

Shal reached down and picked Brennan up, slinging him over her shoulder. "Bren, I really hope this isn't hurting you, but I don't have a choice. The GSA could be back any minute."

She turned and looked at a GSA agent about 20 feet from them. "Em, grab that guy's gear. He's got a handheld computer, a stunner, and some communications equipment. Maybe it'll help Adam figure out what happened."

"I'm on it."

Minutes later, Shalimar and Emma exited the warehouse, Brennan still slung across the feral's shoulder. They stopped for a moment, looking around at the darkness that surrounded them.

"Oh God. How big an area do you think he took out?" Emma twisted and looked the other way. "I think I see some lights that way."

The sound of sirens filled the air.

"Let's hope not more than a couple of blocks. Anything more than that and the Helix will be fried, too. Let's go."

* * *

"Shalimar! Emma! Can you hear me? Brennan? Are you there?" Jesse waited for a response impatiently, his fingers racing across the keyboard in front of him. 

"It's no good, Adam. They're not responding."

"Is something blocking the signal?"

"No, it's like it just went dead. Wait, I'm seeing reports of fire engines being dispatched to their area. There are reports of a sudden black out."

The screen if front of Jesse flipped, displaying an aerial view of the city. "Satellite imaging shows several blocks around the warehouse without power."

The screen wavered. "I'm bringing up the archive. I've had the area under surveillance, like we always do, but didn't expect to get much since they were inside a building. Okay, got it."

On the screen the normal lighting in the warehouse district showed. Suddenly, the whole area lit up in a flash and then went dark.

"What was that?" Adam demanded, looking at the monitor.

"Brennan," Jesse breathed, not wanting to voice his fear, but dread forcing it out anyway. "It had to have been Brennan."

"That's impossible, not even Brennan could have generated that much power. It would have…" Adam trailed off.

"…killed him," Jesse whispered. "And Shal and Em."

Adam shook himself. "We don't know that yet. We need to go check. Let's go!" Adam rushed to the door, and Jesse stood up shakily from the desk, turning to follow.

"Please let Brennan be alright," he prayed aloud. "Let all of them be alright." Then he rushed to follow Adam.

* * *

"Thank God," Shal groaned as she sighted the Helix, still cloaked and functional. She reached into to where the door should be and groped by the access control port. She found it and quickly typed in the code, and a door whooshed open in front of her, out of nothingness. 

She entered quickly and slid Brennan from her shoulder down into a chair. "Em, strap him in. I'm going to fire up the engines."

"Right."

Shalimar reached the pilots seat and sat down, panels lighting up in front of her. She hit a few buttons, including one to open up communications to Sanctuary.

"Adam? Jesse? Can you hear me?"

"Shalimar!" she heard Adam and Jesse answer as one. "Are you okay? And Emma and Brennan?" Adam asked.

"Emma and I are fine. Brennan… Brennan isn't so good. He overloaded or something, Adam. He had this huge power spike. It knocked out power for a couple of blocks." She pulled up on the stick, and the helix soared into the air, turning to head back to Sanctuary.

"We saw, Shalimar. I'll prep the lab for you arrival. Emma…"

"I'm setting up the emergency medical scanner now, Adam," Emma broke in. "I'll feed the results directly to you."

"We'll be ready."

"Emma?" Jesse asked, his actual question unspoken.

"I don't know, Jess. I can't feel him right now," she said, choking up a little. "I don't know."

* * *

Adam exited the lab to find them outside waiting for him. He sighed. "It's still to soon to be sure, but I think he'll be okay." 

Shalimar, Emma and Jesse grabbed each other, smiles breaking out on their faces.

"His mutant electrical charge was almost non-existent – this overload or whatever happened almost killed him. But he's recharging quickly, far more quickly than I would have expected. I running a work up on him now, but I'd say that his powers are mutating again, hopefully not out of control."

"I looked at the equipment Emma brought back, Adam," Jesse interrupted. "I think that's a safe bet. The equipment isn't just fried from an overload of electricity. It isn't just blown fuses. The computer chips are dead. There's only one thing that would cause this, and that's an EM pulse."

Shalimar and Emma looked at him.

"Electromagnetic pulse. It fries all computer equipment. During a nuclear blast, an EM pulse is generated, far in excess of the actual blast area. We're talking Nerds to Amish in one blow. If harnessed, it's one of the most devastating weapons possible." Jesse looked around, seeing that they didn't understand. "Think the stock market, international banking, air traffic control, e-commerce, medical records – everything is online. With an EMP pulse, say goodbye to all that, down to traffic signals, and your car for that matter."

"I had no idea," Shal said. "Wait, so you are saying that's what Brennan is now?"

Jesse shrugged. "I don't know – all I know is that an EM pulsed killed all this equipment, including your comm rings. Adam, I don't want to be an alarmist, but we need to be aware of the risk to Sanctuary, should this happen again."

"I understand, Jesse. See if there's anything you can do to shield the core memory on the system." Adam turned to Shalimar. "If Eckhardt comes to the same conclusion, Brennan will become his number one target. Check security and see how we look."

Adam turned his focus onto the three of them. "In the meantime, let me know if you are experiencing any changes with your own power. The last time this happened you all showed symptoms within hours of each other. Have any of you noticed anything?"

Jesse stayed silent, as did the others.

"Okay, but if you see or feel anything, let me know right away. I'm going to go back in with Brennan. Jesse? You're sure? Nothing?"

"Nope, everything's normal," Jesse lied. "Let's just focus on Brennan."

**

* * *

**

**Author's Notes:**

Just for clarity, in Chapter 4 when Brennan stepped out from behind the crate and exposed himself to the agents… that wasn't the full monty type of exposure. We can't make the GSA happy now, can we

Yay! More Pringles! Lady Lenna, Marie Crosby and KoalaRed – thanks for feeding my review addiction!


	6. Chapter 6

**For disclaimers, please see Chapter 1.**

Jesse returned to his room after his conversation with Adam and stretched out on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

_Why did I just lie to Adam?_

Again, he felt that itch in his brain, but it had gained strength.

_Am I forgetting something? It's that same feeling like when I've forgotten to do something and can't remember what – just that I've forgotten something._

Jesse considered going to speak to Emma about it, thinking she should scan him with her powers and figure it out, but then thought better of it. Jesse figured Emma had crashed after the long night of waiting to find out about Brennan. She wouldn't appreciate being woken up for something as trivial as helping Jesse remember what he had forgotten. She'd probably just recommend that he meditate on it anyway or at least something along those lines.

Jesse shrugged, thinking it wouldn't hurt anything to try meditating on it. He didn't have anything to lose. He closed his eyes and slowed his breathing, focusing on the itch, letting it grow.

* * *

Brennan stirred, and even that small movement caused him to moan in pain. 

"Brennan? Are you awake?" he heard Adam ask.

Brennan opened his eyes slowly, squinting at the light. "Yeah. What the hell happened? I hurt… everywhere."

Adam smiled. "I'm not surprised. Based on the power surge you had, it's a miracle you're still alive."

"Power surge?" Brennan asked, and then images of what happened flashed in his mind. He remembered the electrical steams, how they grew stronger and then he pulled them back, taking them into himself. He remembered searing pain, and then nothing else.

Adam sighed. "Yes, Brennan. It appears your powers are mutating again."

Brennan looked at Adam, right into his eyes. "Adam, be straight with me. What did Jesse do to me?"

* * *

Emma knocked on Shalimar's door. "Shal?" 

"What's wrong?" Shalimar asked, opening the door.

"Nothing, not really. I couldn't sleep, and I could feel you worrying all the way over in my room. I thought maybe we could train a little or something, just to work off some steam."

Shalimar smiled. "Yeah, sounds good to me. Let's go."

"Like that?" Emma asked, noting that Shalimar only had on her bra and panties.

"Oh, probably don't want to give the boys a show, do I?" She quickly pulled on a tight half t-shirt and some lycra shorts. "Okay, ready."

Emma laughed, following Shalimar down the hallway. "I don't see how that's any less of a show, Shal."

"Well, if we happen to stop by and see Brennan, maybe a little show will raise his spirits."

Emma rolled her eyes. "I'm sure it will raise something."

Shalimar grinned as she neared the end of the hallway and turned to take the stairs up to the dojo.

"You want to do one on one, or work on your kata?"

"Actually, I want to kick some GSA ass."

Shalimar giggled at the ferocity in Emma's voice. "Alright," she said, stepping over to the holographic controls. She glanced down at the screen. "Huh – I've never seen this program before. It looks new." Her fingers hit a few keys. "Looks like Brennan has been using it every night for the past couple of weeks. Wanna try it?"

"How difficult is it?"

"Let's find out." Shal hit the button to launch the program.

A strong, confident Jesse Kilmartin materialized in front of them. "Think you can take me this time?", he asked.

"What the hell?" Shalimar exclaimed, hitting pause on the program. "Brennan's been training against a holographic Jesse?"

"It's Jesse, but it's not. This Jesse seems a little different, Shal. Don't you think?" Emma walked closer to the hologram. "He's a little rougher, more confident."

Shal tilted her head, taking another look at holographic Jesse. "I think you're right, there's something different about him. We need to find out what's going on. Come with me."

Emma trailed after Shalimar, who strode purposefully out of the dojo. "Where are we going? To see Brennan?"

"No," Shal answered, not breaking her stride. "We're going to a computer to look at the security footage. I want to know for sure what's been happening in that dojo."

* * *

Jesse giggled and ran back over to Adam. "Did you see? Did you see?" 

Adam smiled at the young boy, ruffling Jesse's hair with his hand. "I sure did. That was excellent."

"What should I do now?" Jesse asked, his twelve-year old face suffused with happiness. Finally he'd found someone who thought his powers kicked butt. His parents may call him a freak on a daily basis, but at least Adam didn't. You couldn't get any cooler than Adam.

"Well, Jesse, since you froze the water in the pool, how about you unfreeze it now?"

Little Jesse rolled his eyes. "That's easy. How about… I make it disappear!" Jesse turned around and glanced at the pool. The ice vanished.

Jesse looked back to see Adam staring at the pool curiously. "That's very impressive. Did you make it invisible, or is it actually gone?"

Jesse rocked back and forth on his heels and said, "Guess you'll have to find out for yourself!"

Adam walked over to the pool and since he was still fully clothed, gingerly put his foot down on the first step inside the pool. He didn't get wet, the water had vanished completely. Adam took a few more steps in, and then walked into the center of the empty pool and looked up at Jesse. "Where did the water go?"

Jesse giggled again. "Oh, it's around. Look up!"

Adam turned his face to the sky, and water spilled from the air, just from nowhere. It cascaded down onto Adam, soaking him completely. "Jesse!" Adam yelled.

The boy laughed so hard he fell down.

* * *

Adam stepped back, startled by Brennan's question. "What do you mean? Do you remember Jesse doing something to you? What did he do?" Adam stopped, realizing he had probably said too much. 

Brennan shook his head slowly. "I don't remember anything, but I read your notes, Adam." Brennan said, giving up one of his secrets. "I came into the lab late one night and you had fallen asleep." Brennan saw Adam's frown and continued. "Yeah, I read your notes while you were asleep. You wrote that it was either the steroids or Jesse, and you didn't think it was the steroids."

Adam's frown deepened. "Those are confidential files, Brennan, and you shouldn't be reading them."

"It's not confidential when it's about me, Adam. I have a right to know. Now tell me what Jesse did, or what you're afraid he did."

"I can't tell you that, Brennan," Adam replied, his fingers pinching the bridge of his nose out of habit.

"Adam, if I'm mutating out of control again and I might die, I have a right to know why. Just tell me."

Adam turned away from the lab bed and grabbed a syringe off of a nearby tray.

"What are you doing?"

"This will help you sleep."

"Adam, I don't want sleep – I want answers."

Adam grabbed Brennan's arm, and prepared to inject him. Brennan attempted to break free, but the pain and weakness he felt made his struggle ineffective. Adam slid the needle in easily and pushed the plunger down.

"Adam! No! This is wrong!" Brennan managed to say, before his eyes drooped closed and he passed out.

"I'm sorry, Brennan. I need time to think."

* * *

Jesse opened his eyes, dazed. _What the hell was that? That couldn't have been a memory – I didn't meet Adam until I was 16, right after he and Shal pulled me out of the pod at Genomex._

Jesse remembered that at twelve he had been away at boarding school in France. His parents had sent him there after he had been caught cheating on a test. His best friends were Simon and Guillaume. Bastian was another close friend. But why did they seem so fuzzy in his mind?

A headache began buzzing in his head, threatening to grow larger. Jesse stood up from his bed, swaying on his feet before regaining his balance and squashing the queasiness he felt. He stumbled to his bathroom and opened the medicine cabinet, his hand reaching for a bottle of aspirin. After twisting the cap into the proper position, he popped it off and then shook two aspirin into the palm of his other hand. He looked at them for a moment and then shook out two more.

He put the aspirin bottle back, then shut the cabinet and reached for a glass. He turned on the water and filled the glass with room temperature water. He popped the four pills into his mouth and then took a big swallow of water, washing the pills down.

He grimaced at the temperature of the water, wishing for ice water instead. He remembered his dream, or maybe memory, and how Adam spoke of a frozen pool of water.

_What the hell_, he thought, _what could it hurt?_

Looking down into the glass of water, and thought about it turning to ice. He didn't concentrate on it, he just sort of willed it, like he'd done with phasing the quarter lately.

He wasn't surprised when the water froze inside the glass. He wanted to be, but he wasn't.

He set the glass down on the sink, the cold from the solid chunk of ice not the only thing chilling him.

_I was 16 when I met Adam. Or was I?_

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

Sorry it's been a while since I updated. Life got a little crazy, but an email from Feral's Revenge reminded me that I needed to get this story finished. Marie Crosby, anne laure, and Feral's Revenge - thanks for the reviews (and the prodding). I'll try to get more chapters posted asap.

Also, my apologies for the frightening amount of typos and other errors in Chapter 5. I looked back at it to see where I left off and saw that it wasn't pretty. I'll try to do better going forward.


	7. Chapter 7

**For disclaimers, please see chapter 1.**

"I'm gonna kill him," Shalimar snarled, her feral eyes flaming.

Emma sent waves of calm to Shalimar, hoping to avoid a bloodbath. "It was just a holographic Jesse, Shal. Not the real one."

Shalimar whirled to face her. "Just the mere fact that he thought about hurting Jesse is enough. Look at that screen!" Shalimar pointed to the monitor and the paused security video which showed Jesse's body on the dojo floor. "No one hurts my family."

Emma stepped up her broadcast, trying to soothe Shalimar. "We just need to find out why first, okay? There has to be a reason. Let me go talk to Brennan and sort this out."

"By yourself, with that monster? I'll never let that happen."

Emma sighed. "He's not a monster, Shal. Your feral emotions are running high – you want to lash out and defend your family. I want to do the same, you're just feeling it much stronger."

"You can rationalize this all you want, Em. I'm going."

Emma took a deep breath. "Okay, let's go. But control yourself, alright?"

* * *

Jesse fell back onto his bed, thoughts racing through his head. He desperately wanted to talk to Adam about this, yet another part of him resisted. That part wanted him to work through this himself, to find his own answers.

_If I'm mutating again, that wouldn't explain the memories, or whatever they were. It wouldn't explain why I remember having powers at twelve that I didn't have until just now._

Jesse's headache throbbed, and he rubbed his temples trying to alleviate the pain.

_I've known other moleculars who could do these things. Well, maybe not the reappearing water thing, but certainly the ice. _

* * *

"So, is there any limit on what you can freeze, Sarah?" Jesse asked.

"Nothing too big, unfortunately. I'm great at keggers, barbecues, that sort of thing though - the drinks are never warm." She laughed.

Jesse cast a look over at Brennan, as he threw his arm around Shalimar and cozied up to her. "Think you could freeze him?" he asked.

Sarah looked over. "Nah, people are too big. Why would you want to freeze him anyway, I thought he was your teammate."

"Oh, he's the team leader alright. Let's just say that he thinks he's hot stuff."

Sarah laughed evilly. "Well, I could freeze parts of him, but then they'd probably fall off."

Jesse gazed at Sarah as if it were any idea worth considering. They both burst out into laughter. Jesse looked back at Brennan to catch the taller man glaring at him, as usual.

* * *

Jesse remembered that he had looked into how Sarah's molecular mutancy worked. Her power let her slow down molecules, decreasing the interaction between them. The heat of an object is the total kinetic energy of its molecules. In other words, reduce the movement between the molecules, and the heat dies down. Remove enough movement, and the object freezes. He even remembered that she'd had a few accidents learning her powers. He recalled one story about a frozen aquarium when the water temperature had risen to high on a hot day. She'd tried to cool the water just a little, but instead froze the whole tank. 

Jesse thought about his own powers. His worked on a similar molecular basis. When he phased, his molecules would… spread out, causing him to become insubstantial. Jesse felt another sharp pain in his head, and he gasped. The pain intensified, and then abated sharply when it felt like something broke free.

"Oh fuck, that hurt."

He thought back to where he had left off. "Wait a minute," he said aloud to the empty room. "That doesn't make any sense."

The laws of basic physics rose up in his mind, as if they had been suppressed previously. If his molecules were expanded, spreading out while he phased, he would have to get larger when that happened. He would have to grow tremendously larger to go insubstantial. But that's not what happened to him. He stayed the same size. And when he massed, growing denser, he would have to shrink, and that didn't happen either.

_My powers don't work that way at all. Why didn't I ever realize it before?_

* * *

"Cynthia?" 

"Adam, is that you? What time is it?"

"Cynthia, this is an emergency. I need you to come to Sanctuary immediately." Adam gripped the phone tightly.

"It's four in the morning. What's wrong, Adam?"

"I need you to put in some more memory blocks."

"On Jesse?"

"Probably. You should look at his just in case. But I need blocks and suggestions on other members of the team."

"Adam, maybe it's time we stopped all of this."

"No, Cynthia, we have to do this. It's the only way."

"Alright, I'll be there in a few hours."

"Hurry, please."

* * *

Shalimar burst into the lab, calling Brennan's name. Emma followed her, urging her to be quiet. 

"I don't care. I'm waking his loser ass up." Shalimar strode over to the bed and shook Brennan, and not very gently. "Wake up, asshole."

Emma radiated calm again, but it didn't do much. She wondered if she'd have to knock Shalimar out soon, until clearer heads prevailed.

"Brennan! Wake up!" Shal called again, shaking him harder.

"Shal! Stop it, you could be hurting him!"

"It would serve him right."

"Shalimar Fox! What do you think you're doing?" Adam boomed, walking into the lab.

Shalimar immediately froze, just like she had done when she was a teenager and Adam yelled her full name. Snapping herself out of it, she turned and faced him. "We just found out that Brennan created a hologram of Jesse, and has been beating Jesse to death every night for the past few weeks." Shalimar's eyes flashed yellow again.

"Shalimar, you need to calm down. I've given Brennan a sedative for the night. You won't be able to wake him right now. We'll deal with the hologram issue later."

"Later? What do you mean later? He's been beating Jesse to death!" Shalimar roared. Her yellow eyes stared at Adam for a moment, and then suddenly she grabbed her stomach and cried out.

Adam looked quickly at Emma. "Did you…"

"No," Emma cut him off. "This isn't me."

Shalimar felt to the floor, clutching her abdomen. "Oh god, it hurts, it hurts."

Adam tried to look at her stomach to check for a wound, but Shalimar wouldn't allow him to move her arms.

"Emma, could you?"

A moment later, an orb of light floated down and entered Shalimar's forehead. She immediately relaxed and her body went limp.

Adam quickly pulled Shalimar's arms away and looked at her stomach. Both he and Emma gasped.

Shalimar had six extra nipples running down her stomach, three on each side, running in parallel.

* * *

Jesse's stomach growled fiercely. He glanced at the clock and read 4:30am. 

He crawled out of bed, noting that his headache felt much better, though he felt more and more confused with every thought he had.

His stomach growled again. "Okay, okay", he said to it, "I heard you the first time."

Jesse made his way down to the kitchen and grabbed a protein bar to tide him over until breakfast. As he made his way back to his room, he heard voices from the lab. He wandered over and saw Shalimar collapsed on the floor and Emma and Adam hovering over her.

"Hey, what's going on? What's wrong with Shal?" he said, concern evident in his voice. "Why didn't anyone call me?"

"It just happened, Jess," Emma replied, blocking his path. "You should go back to your room."

"No way, not if Shal's hurt." He edged around Emma and gasped as he saw Shalimar's extra nipples. "Um, those are new."

Shal slowly came back to awareness. "Ow – what happened? Emma, did you knock me out?"

Emma came and kneeled by her. "Yeah, I'm sorry, Shal, but you were in pain."

"What happened?"

"Shalimar," Adam said. "This is going to be a bit of a shock, but it appears you've mutated again, very quickly." Adam stood up and walked over to a counter, pulling open a drawer and removing a mirror. He walked back over to her. "Try to stay calm." He angled the mirror so she could see her stomach clearly.

"What the hell? What are those?"

"Nipples, by the looks of them, Shal," Jesse piped in.

"This can't be happening," Shalimar cried out. Then she froze as the impact hit her. "You've got to be fucking kidding me."

Jesse, Emma and Adam all looked at her questioningly.

"My new mutant power is that I can have a fucking litter? You have got to be fucking kidding me."

Emma and Adam all took a moment to ponder that possibility, but Jesse couldn't help but laugh out loud, to the glares of everyone else in the room.

* * *

After Shalimar had recovered and been examined by Adam, Jesse and Emma offered to take her back to her room, but she refused. "I'll go by myself. But Em, you gotta take care of that thing we talked about." 

Emma nodded.

After she left, Emma asked Adam, "How did that happen? How did she mutate so fast? It was only a few seconds."

"I don't know, Emma", Adam replied, looking into a microscope. "I won't know until I look at her lab results."

"But… do you think she's done?"

"I really don't know, Emma. I need to look at the labs, like I said." Adam turned to face them. "Both Brennan and Shalimar have mutated unexpectedly. Have either of you seen or felt anything different?"

Emma answered first. "Nothing yet, Adam. But Brennan and Shalimar both had their mutations really suddenly. Shal was fine right up until it happened."

"No changes over here, either, Adam."

Emma felt Jesse's lie, but didn't react to it.

Adam frowned. "Well, just stick to your basics, Jesse. Remember your exercises."

"Of course, Adam."

Emma felt a weird vibe coming from Adam, and couldn't quite place it. She didn't know if it was disappointment or dread.

"You two go get some sleep," he said. "I'm going to work on these lab results."

"Okay, Adam. But try to get some sleep yourself. You've been up a long time." Emma grabbed Jesse's arm and pulled him out of the lab.

* * *

"Spill," she ordered. 

"What are you talking about?"

"Oh, come on, Jesse. Do you honestly think I didn't feel that lie in there? What's going on, and why are you lying to Adam about it?"

Jesse quickly looked around and then pulled her towards a solid wall.

"Where are we g…" she broke off as she saw the wall shimmer in front of her, the wall that was still several feet in front of them. She stepped through the wall, Jesse right behind her. The wall solidified behind them.

"You just phased the wall without touching it!" she exclaimed. "You have mutated again! I knew it! But why did you lie about it?"

"Emma, can you keep a secret?" Jesse asked.

"As long as keeping it doesn't hurt someone else, then yes," Emma replied carefully.

"Have a seat first." Jesse gestured to a couple of office chairs in front of desk. Emma looked around the room, realizing she'd never been in here before. "What is this place?"

"It's the server room. It's the computer core of Sanctuary. It's shielded and private, especially after the work I did this afternoon."

Emma took one of the chairs, and rubbed her arms. "It's a little cold in here."

"Just a minute." Jesse turned to a cabinet and pulled out a sweater. "I keep one in here for emergencies." Before he handed it to her, he stared at it for a moment, and then passed it over.

"It's warm, Jesse. It feels like it just came out of the dryer or something." She quickly put it on, and smiled at the warmth. "That's better," she said, looking at him directly. "But now you need to give me some answers. What's going on? And was there a warmer in that cabinet, or was this another power?" she asked, indicating the sweater.

* * *

Shalimar made it back to her room, and stood in front of the mirror for a while. She had pulled off her shirt and bra so she could see her whole torso unobstructed. Her new nipples seemed small, tiny in fact. They didn't have any breast beneath them; they were just nipples on the skin. 

She sighed, thinking they were probably just large enough to show through a shirt. She grabbed a shirt from her closet and pulled it on. Of course, the shirt barely concealed her normal breasts, stretching the fabric tight. Her new nipples stood out and she groaned at the sight.

She didn't even own a baggy shirt. How could she live like this?

Shalimar crawled into bed, hoping that the whole night was just a dream.

* * *

"Wait. So you think you've had these powers for a while?" 

"I think that was a memory, Emma. Odd things have been happening, and I've had a headache for a while now. Earlier, it got really bad and it felt like something broke free. That's when I remembered the basic laws of physics and that my powers couldn't possibly work the way I thought they did. It's just impossible – and it's like I'd never thought about it before."

"Because you couldn't? That's what you think?"

Jesse nodded. "Something's happening to me, Em. And it's not a mutation. The more and more I think about stuff, the more I realize I can do. And it's not because I just get the idea, it's because I get a little flash of a memory that I've done it before, like heating up that sweater."

"Why would Adam hide this from you?"

"I don't know. But I don't want him to find out that I'm remembering. When we were down in the lab, I got flashes of having been there as a child. Little bits and pieces are coming back to me the more I think about it. I don't want Adam to know."

Emma felt the emotion coming from him. "You're afraid of him. Oh god, and he was like a father to you." Emma reached over and hugged him.

"How could I not be scared, Em? I think he erased part of my life."


	8. Chapter 8

**For disclaimers, please see Chapter 1.**

"Cynthia, thanks for coming."

She yawned before replying. "After waking me up at four in the morning, I hope that 'thanks' comes with a cup of coffee."

Adam chuckled. "Of course." He held out his arm in the direction of the kitchen. "After you."

Over coffee, Adam filled Cynthia in on what had happened recently. "So, if I've got this right, Brennan suspects that Jesse did something to him, but neither of you know for sure, right?" Cynthia asked.

"Correct. Signs of Brennan's latest mutation started appearing right after Jesse fought Brennan at the prison. I've checked Brennan on a regular basis, almost daily, and I could see his electrical charge rising, but then it would return to about normal the next day. I thought Brennan was learning to control, but after the incident at the warehouse, it's obvious that he doesn't have that control."

"Is it safe to have him here? Couldn't he bring down all your computers, destroy all your precious data?" Cynthia asked, a touch of bitterness in her voice.

"Cynthia, let's not have the same fight over and over again, okay? And yes, for right now, it is safe to have him here. His charge is climbing, but we aren't in a danger zone yet. Jesse has put up EM shielding around the computer room, but we'll move Brennan to a different location before he truly becomes a risk." Adam stood up from the table and grabbed the coffee pot, pouring them more of the hot stimulant.

Cynthia let the discussion of Adam's precious data go. "And Emma? You want her memory blocked, too?" She asked, adding some cream to her coffee.

"I think that's best. I don't want her to be suspicious. More importantly, I need you to reinforce the suggestion that she should not scan my thoughts. The previous one you gave her isn't holding."

"Adam, this is just wrong. I'm tired of altering the thoughts of these children. Besides, the way Emma's powers have grown, I'm not sure I'll be able to affect her anymore."

"Cynthia, please. You know why it has to be this way. The alternative isn't something I want to think about."

"Would you do it, if it came down to it? Would you really murder Jesse?"

Adam frowned, especially at her choice of words. "It wouldn't be murder."

* * *

"I can sense the blocks, but I'm not sure breaking them is a good idea."

Jesse opened his eyes. "Why not, Em? They're my memories."

Emma opened her eyes as well, dropping her fingers from where they had touched his temple. "You remember those cartoons from when we were kids? The ones where they'd stuff everything into a closet, just stuff it until the closet door was just trembling try to keep everything in? Then someone would walk by and open the door and everything will spill out on them like an avalanche?"

Jesse swallowed. "You're saying that's what's going on in me? But doesn't that mean I could burst at any time? Wouldn't that be worse?"

Emma smiled and grabbed his hand and held it. "I won't lie to you, Jess. That's possible, but based on the fact that you are already remembering things, I'd say stuff is leaking out of the closet slowly. You're able to deal with the memories this way. If I break open the barrier, it could be too much."

"Okay, I'll wait. But if I pop a blood vessel in my brain or something, it's your fault," he smiled.

Emma rolled her eyes. "Whatever." She smiled back.

"Em? What if I'm not the only one with these blocks? Do you think Adam did it to you guys, too?"

"I'm a psionic – there's no way he could mess with my mind that way." Emma said confidently, but didn't look so confident.

"Don't you think it's worth checking?"

"I can, but I meditate all the time. I would have noticed before now."

"Maybe not, if you weren't looking for it."

Emma closed her eyes again and this time looked within herself. Thinking of the closet metaphor she used with Jesse, she visualized a hotel, full of doors to open and look within. She walked down the hallway, twisting the handles to see if any of the doors were locked, not finding any.

At the end of the hallway, she felt confident that she had not had any manipulations done to her, as she had told Jesse. She looked back down the long hallway, ready to exit, but noticed something peculiar.

Doors appeared on each side of the hallway, scattered across its length. But when she looked at them as a whole, she noticed that a few doors were missing, not following the pattern. When she had been moving from door to door, she hadn't noticed it.

She quickly strode to a section of wall that should have had a door. Anger filled her, anger that anyone could mess with her mind this way. A psychic orb formed in front of her forehead, and she sent it hurtling towards the wall, right where the door should have been.

The wall shimmered, and the door appeared, scorch marks evident from her blast. It sat crookedly on the hinges, and she pushed it open with little effort and walked inside.

Emma opened her eyes. "You were right, Jesse. And this isn't the first time we've had this conversation."

* * *

Shalimar's alarm went off like a buzzsaw. "There is no way I'm getting up," she said aloud, rolling over and stretching her arm out to turn off the incessant shrieking.

With the alarm turned off, she tried to go back to sleep, but the thought of her extra nipples popped into her head. With a groan, she moved her hand down to her stomach, gasping when she found it smooth and unblemished.

"Oh, thank god. It was just a dream." She jumped up from bed and ran to her mirror, pulling off her t-shirt to reveal her bare chest. "Oh thank god! Thank god!"

Now that her day seemed easier to face, Shalimar opted against more sleep and decided to hop in the shower and start her day. She headed for the bathroom with a smile.

* * *

"What do you mean, Em?"

"We've remembered things before, Jesse, and then had them blocked again. I need more time to uncover the details, but I remember a woman named Cynthia showing up, a really strong psionic."

"That would make sense. Only another psionic would have a chance against you mentally."

Emma stirred, uncomfortable with the thought of a psionic who could alter her mind. "Not this time," she vowed.

"Em, can you reach Shal? We should let her know what's going on."

"Sure, I'll see if she's awake." Emma closed her eyes again, casting her thoughts outward, and hit a wall. She tried harder. "I can't reach her. In fact, I can't get outside this room."

"Really? It must be the shielding I added. It's built to withstand an EM pulse." Jesse paused to think. "And since it blocks electrical energy, and since thoughts are essentially just electricity jumping between the synapses within your brain…"

"You've also accidentally shielded this room against psionic abilities," Emma said, getting uncomfortable, unused to being contained and limited. "Can we get out of here?"

"Of course," Jesse answered, standing up and walking to the door. "Let's go."

"Wait, Jesse. Can you secure this room so that only you can get anyone in or out?"

Jesse thought about it. "Sure. But why?"

"Because I think this would make an excellent hiding spot for you, or us, just in case Cynthia shows up."

Jesse's eyes narrowed. "I just need a minute."

* * *

Brennan woke slowly, his head feeling thick and heavy. After a moment, the memory of what Adam had done resurfaced.

_I can't believe he drugged me!_

He tried to sit up, but couldn't. He struggled, realizing that restraints held his arms and legs secure. He debated on calling out, but he didn't want it to be Adam who responded to his call.

_Come on guys, help me!_

Then he noticed the ants – that surging beneath his skin that demanded to be freed. He hadn't felt it this strong since – since the warehouse.

* * *

As soon as Jesse and Emma exited the computer room, Emma picked up Shalimar's presence.

"She's in her room."

They quickly reached Shalimar's door and knocked. Shalimar opened it, dressed in tight jeans and another half-shirt. Both Jesse and Emma stared.

"Um, Shal? What happened to your nipples?" Jesse asked, blunt as ever.

Shal paled in front of them. "But that was just a dream."

"Sorry, Shal. It happened, and there's more going on. We'll catch you up things."

Jesse started to explain, but Emma frowned and turned her head away from them.

"Guys, Brennan's awake. And he's afraid. We need to go to him."

"Wait. If the nipples thing happened, then Brennan also beat holographic Jesse to death." Shalimar snarled.

"What?" Jesse asked, shocked.

"We don't have time for this, guys," Emma sighed. She formed a psychic orb in front of her, and it flew out and struck Shalimar. Seconds later, a second orb struck Jesse.

Both of them shook their heads, slightly stunned.

"So, are we all caught up now?" she asked.

"Umm, yeah," Jesse answered. "I feel like I was right there with you and Shal when you saw the security footage."

"How long have you been able to do this, Emma?"

"Awhile," she replied. "We've all got secrets, Shal."

"Not me."

"Yeah, sure," Emma answered, ignoring a lie once again. "Let's just go help Brennan."

"I'm not so sure we should help him."

Jesse put his hand on the feral's shoulder. "Shal, I appreciate you wanting to protect me. But honestly, the whole hologram thing doesn't surprise me. Brennan's always been about hurting me. This time it's just a little more obvious. It's okay."

"That doesn't really sound okay to me, Jesse. Not one bit."

"Please, Shal, for me. Just let it go. I'll deal with that after we find out what's happening to Brennan, and we've confronted Adam about Cynthia."

"You'll deal with it? No offense, but you aren't very good with dealing with Brennan."

"Well, things are changing. You'll find out there's a lot of things about me that are different now."

Shalimar looked at him closely, seeing how he stood with more confidence and assurance. "I can see that."

"Let's go," Emma said, "I'm worried about Brennan."

As they headed off to the lab with Jesse in the lead, Shalimar whispered to Emma. "So how is it that Brennan created a hologram of a strong, confident Jesse just like the one in front of us?"

* * *

"So Jesse doesn't suspect anything yet?"

"No, and he hasn't complained of headaches yet either. I think his blocks are holding, but it wouldn't hurt to reinforce them."

"Alright, let's get this over with," Cynthia said, standing up from the table. "Who's first?"

"Brennan. I have him sedated in the lab. We need to take care of him before he can warn the others."

* * *

Shalimar entered the lab first, quickly looking around and taking a threat assessment.

"Shal!" Brennan cried out. "Get these off of me!" he added, jerking his arms to show his restraints, electricity crackling up and down his arms.

"It's all clear, guys. I only see Brennan."

Jesse and Emma walked in to see Shalimar approaching the bed. "You've got some explaining to do, Brennan."

"Shal, that's enough," Jesse ordered. All heads turned to him, surprised at the authoritative tone in his voice.

Jesse looked at the restraints holding Brennan and they fell away, phasing insubstantial first, and then into nothingness.

Shalimar and Brennan both stopped and stared at where the restraints had been. Shalimar had the knowledge of Jesse's powers but hadn't seen them in action yet.

"What the fuck was that?" Brennan asked.

"They're coming!" Emma hissed, before anyone could answer Brennan.

Adam and Cynthia walked through the door a moment later. "Cynthia, quickly!"

Brennan, Shalimar, Jesse and Emma all looked at the woman who stood before them. Her eyes began to glow a bright blue, shining out from the wrinkles of her face.

Shalimar screamed, holding her hands out in front of her.

"No!" Emma yelled, throwing up an arm. As she did so, a curtain of mental energy followed her arm, rising up from the floor and coalescing around her and her friends like a bubble.

Everyone in the room paused, surprised by Emma's action, until Adam called to Cynthia again. "Hurry!"

The elderly woman shot bolts of bright blue energy out of her eyes, which hit the shield and bounced away.

"Another secret, Em?" Jesse asked.

Emma answered, her brow furrowed in concentration. "No, this is new. And I'm not sure how long I can hold this, either."

"What did you do to Shalimar?" Brennan yelled at the woman, stopping when he saw six inch claws extending from Shalimar's fingers. The pain subsided, and Shalimar pulled herself together and looked at the claws, flexing her fingers.

"Now this is more like it," Shal said predatorily. "Let me at her."

Adam walked towards them, stopping just short of the protective barrier. "Guys, please. It's me, Adam. You know I would never hurt you. Cynthia is a friend. We would never hurt you. You can trust me. Trust us."

"Sorry, Adam. You lost our trust when you started messing with our minds," Jesse said back, with a sense of finality in his words.

"And you fucking knocked me out, Adam, shot me up with drugs and knocked me out. I don't trust you at all," Brennan added, struggling to get up from the table. Electricity still crackled along his body.

"Everyone, please, I need to help Brennan. Emma, drop this barrier."

"Guys, I really can't hold this much longer. If you're going to do something, do it soon," Emma pleaded.

Cynthia hit the barrier with more bolts of mental energy, trying to take advantage of Emma's weakening state. Adam walked to a counter and pulled out a gun loaded with tranq darts. "I'm sorry it had to come to this."

Jesse turned his face to Emma. "Our hiding spot, Em. Can you deflect her energy until we get there?"

"I can't hold the shield that long."

Jesse nodded, deciding to reveal his powers to Adam since the confrontation made it a moot point anyway. He glanced at Adam's gun and it vanished.

"Jesse! No, don't do this! You don't want this!" Adam cried out.

"I'm sorry, Adam. I won't be manipulated by you any longer."

**Author's Notes:**

I'm trying to crank out as much as I can this weekend, because I probably won't have much time again for the next week or two, though I'll try to squeeze some in when I can. I'm hoping I've got one more chapter in me tonight.

Oh, I know this story is supposed to have Jesse and Brennan slash – I'm a little disappointed that it's all been Jesse angst so far. You'd think after ten thousand words or so, I would have managed to bring them together for at least a kiss, but no – I have to do everything the hard way.

Feral's Revenge – that was awesome feedback, thanks. I think that's the longest feedback I've ever seen, let alone received. Thanks! And I'd love to answer to your questions, but that would take all the fun out of it, right? And yeah, the nipples were a little weird, but I've always thought that every mutation wouldn't be perfect, you know? They can't all be cool and powerful. However, I think you can see where Shal's mutation is headed. Also, Emma kicking GSA butt stemmed from an episode where she was practicing a high kick and could knock someone out. I figure she's got a little kick-ass in her. For the rest, we'll just have to see how the story plays out – it is taking some unexpected turns as I write it and not following my original plan, but I'm just letting it happen.

Marie Crosby and koalared – thanks for your continued reading and reviews. I appreciate it!

A Sad Exchange – I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'll try to keep it up.


	9. Chapter 9

**For disclaimers, please see Chapter 1.  
Also, please note that the gauge on the slash meter rises a little in this chapter. I need to start earning the M rating I gave this.**

"I'm sorry, Adam. I won't be manipulated by you any longer."

Jesse looked down at Adam's shoes, and Adam followed his gaze. Red tendrils spread across the scientist's sneakers. Adam tried to move and couldn't. His now heavy, dense shoes kept him rooted in place.

Adam reached into his pocket and a memory surfaced lightning quick in Jesse's mind. He remembered a small device, a device that triggered a special sub-dermal governor implanted in his neck - a device that would shut down his powers.

As Adam removed the small, keychain-sized device from his pocket, Jesse willed its molecules to disperse, and the device winked out of existence. "Not this time, Adam."

Jesse massed Cynthia's shoes as well, and now both their adversaries could not move. However, Jesse had no clue how to stop Cynthia's blasts.

"Shalimar, pick up Brennan and carry him out of here."

"No!" Brennan replied. "I can do it myself. And I'm in charge." Brennan almost sat up, but fell back down, panting from the effort.

"Do it, Shal." Shalimar moved over to pick him up, but with the electricity shooting across Brennan's body, she didn't have a chance, even setting aside the issue of her extended claws.

"I can't!"

Jesse kept his eyes on Adam and Cynthia, walking backwards to the bed. He stepped around it, and picked Brennan up, despite his protest. He felt a flicker as he picked Brennan up, but he calmed the electricity automatically, slowing the molecules that transmitted the charge, similar to freezing them. Brennan sighed and sagged in his arms.

"Everybody, out!" Jesse ordered. He and Shalimar moved to the door, and Emma followed, struggling to keep the barrier in place. Jesse stopped on the way and whispered into Emma's ear. "I know you're barely hanging on, but I need one more thing. When I say 'password' to Adam, I need you to scan him and remember whatever he's thinking."

Emma nodded, just barely.

"Adam, I suggest you and your friend leave Sanctuary. This is our home now, and you aren't welcome here at the moment. And before you think about trying to turn the security system against us, I already cracked your password."

Adam's eyes widened, and Emma put her last reserves of strength into play, reading his thoughts.

Jesse glanced at Emma, and seeing her nod, he exited the lab, Shalimar covering him just in case. Emma followed, and just barely outside the door she fell to the floor, drained.

"Shal, get Emma and follow me."

Psychic blasts began shooting through the wall randomly, and Shalimar could hear Adam shouting at them. Shal reached to pick up Emma, and as she did so, she noticed that her new claws had disappeared. She lifted Emma up without worry of hurting her, and hurried after Jesse.

* * *

Jesse phased the wall in front of them, and he and Shal ran into the room, carrying Brennan and Emma. He eased Brennan down onto the floor and then sat at one of the terminals and began typing. He didn't notice that Brennan immediately tensed up, and small flickers of electricity began scattering across his fingers.

"Shal, you've got to wake Emma up. I need those passwords."

Shal shook Emma gently, trying to prod her back to consciousness.

"Now, Shal. I need them now. I'm not sure how long my trick with the shoes will hold. If Adam gets in before us, we're screwed. All of Sanctuary will turn against us."

Shalimar murmured "I'm sorry" to Emma, and then slapped her across the face. Emma's eyes flashed open. "I'm sorry, but Jesse needs the password." Emma's eyes swam into focus. "The password, Emma, the password."

Emma replied groggily, "There are two passwords, not one. Adam wondered which one you had cracked. They are patsy!13 and polynucleotide47b." Emma spelled each one. "Patsy was the name of Adam's dog when he was little," Emma slurred, as she drifted back to unconsciousness.

"That would be touching if he wasn't trying to mess with our own memories," Shal commented.

"I'm in," Jesse said. "and I'm changing both passwords." After a pause, he added, "Done." A few more clicks on the keyboard and an image of the lab appeared. Adam and Cynthia were still rooted to the ground.

"Adam," he said into the computer.

* * *

Adam worked at the laces on his shoes, trying to lift them even slightly to untie them. If he could just slip his feet out, he could get to a computer. Behind him, Cynthia waited patiently, having already said "I told you so" a few times.

"Adam," the lab speakers hissed.

Adam stood up and turned his head to face the camera he knew focused on him. "Jesse, if you'll just listen to me."

"Listen? After you attacked us? I don't think so. I'm redirecting Sanctuary's defenses now, and you and your friend Cynthia will both be considered intruders."

"You couldn't, you'd need both…" and Adam trailed off, realizing he'd been tricked earlier. Jesse hadn't cracked either of his passwords, but Emma had been able to read them off of him. "Jesse, you can't do this. Just let me explain."

"Intruder alert! Intruder alert!" the claxon warned, indicating Jesse had completed his work. "Lethal defenses will activate in 60 seconds."

"Jesse!" Adam screamed. Suddenly his feet gave way, as did Cynthia's, their shoes back to normal density. "Cynthia, run!"

They ran for the exit as the computer counted down the seconds.

* * *

"Lethal defenses, Jesse?"

"Not really, Shal. But I figured Adam could use some extra persuasion to leave. The defense system never really activated."

Shalimar breathed a sigh of relief. "Good. I know Adam has done some screwed up things to you and Emma," and remembering Adam knocking Brennan out she added, "and Brennan. But I still can't help but think something isn't right. Adam isn't a bad guy."

"I know," Jesse agreed, running his hand through his hair. "I know."

"Have they left yet?"

"Yeah, I just saw them leave. They took Cynthia's car and are headed away from Sanctuary."

"So what do we do now? Do we have to stay in here?" Shalimar looked around the room and rubbed her hands together. "It's freezing in here."

"No, I just wanted a safe place for us, safe from Cynthia's blasts, while I worked on the computer. If Emma hadn't gotten the right passwords, this would have been the only safe spot in Sanctuary for us."

Brennan groaned, drawing their attention. Electricity traveled up his arms again. "Jesse, we have to help him. How do we do that without Adam?" Shal asked.

"For now, I can help him," Jesse answered, walking over to Brennan and touching his arm. The electricity arced over to Jesse's hand.

"How, Jesse? How are you doing that? That should at least shock you, if not more."

"I wish I knew, Shal. Maybe Adam's files will shed some light. But first, let's get Emma and Brennan to their rooms." He picked up Brennan and then glanced at the wall and it disappeared.

"I'm not sure what to make of your new powers, little brother."

"Me? What about you? At least I don't have peek-a-boo nipples."

"Oh, if I wasn't holding Emma right now, you'd pay for that… and believe me, you will pay later."

"Bring it on, Mommy Kitty," he volleyed, and ducked out the opening.

Outside, he looked around Sanctuary. He sobered as he realized it hadn't been a sanctuary at all, right now, it seemed to have been more of a house of horrors.

_I guess that whole laughing in the face of danger thing is a crock, _he thought of their humor a moment ago._ It's not that you laugh at danger, you laugh so that you don't lose it entirely._

Shalimar looked somber as well as she stepped out into Sanctuary, a Sanctuary without Adam. She didn't say anything, just looked at him, and then carried Emma to her room.

Jesse reformed the wall after she left, somehow pulling it back out of the nothingness into which it had disappeared.

* * *

"So, what now, Adam?"

"Just give me a moment to think. I need to figure out what to do."

Cynthia shook her head at him. "I'll tell you what you are going to do, Adam. Nothing. Absolutely nothing. You are going to let this play out. It's been too long, and it never should have happened in the first place."

"But he's going to hurt, Cynthia. And the risks, the danger…" he broke off, recalling that Cynthia knew the dangers just as well as he did, if not better.

"You will leave that boy alone, Adam. Do you hear me? You will leave that boy alone."

"But…"

"Don't make me tell you again."

* * *

Jesse pushed open the door to Brennan's room and flicked on the light. He carried Brennan across the room and gently placed him on the bed. He stepped away and crossed the room to turn out the light.

"Jesse?" Brennan mumbled.

"Yeah, Brennan?"

"Don't leave, please. It hurts." Jesse walked back over to the bed and looked at Brennan's face.

"I can get you some pain killers from the lab. They'll help while you heal."

"It's not that, it's this," Brennan said, lifting his fingers above his chest. A spark of electricity jumped from one finger to another. "It doesn't hurt when you…" he broke off.

Jesse finished his sentence for him. "When I touch you."

Brennan nodded with effort, as if the admission pained him. "Please," he begged softly. "It's getting worse."

Jesse nodded. "I just need a minute." He walked away from the bed and sat down at Brennan's computer. He double checked the security system, ensuring it was on and only accepted four people as residents now. It only took him moments, but he could already hear soft groans coming from the bed. He hit the light and then ducked into Brennan's bathroom quickly, emptying his bladder. _The last thing I need tonight is a piss-hardon, _he thought, _I'm going to have trouble controlling it as it is._

He washed his hands, and then climbed into Brennan's bed, kicking off his shoes and pulling the light coverlet over them. He could see Brennan's eyes in the faint light from the door, and seeing the panic there, he knew Brennan was anything but comfortable with the situation. Jesse opted for the manliest thing he could think of, reaching his hand out and resting it on Brennan's shoulder.

Brennan flinched at the touch initially, but then felt the soothing drain and sighed, and began to relax. "Thanks," he said in the darkness.

"Anytime, bro," Jesse replied, answering with familiar words, but he felt anything but brotherly towards Brennan at the moment.

They stayed like that until they both fell asleep.

* * *

A gentle knock roused Jesse the next morning. "Jess, are you in there?"

Jesse opened his eyes, and looked around, not used to waking up in another's bed. "Yeah," he said as lightly as he could, "but Brennan's still sleeping."

"Then meet us downstairs, okay?"

"Sure."

Jesse took better stock of his surroundings. He lay spooned against Brennan's back, his arm wrapped around the taller man. Brennan held onto his arm tightly, like a man grasping a lifeline. Jesse also took notice of the fact that he had his erection pressed up against Brennan's ass.

Jesse pulled his hips back, trying to break contact before Brennan woke up. He slipped his arm out of Brennan's clasp and slid himself off the bed. He reached down and grabbed his shoes, then stepped towards the door.

"Jesse?"

Before he answered, Jesse looked down and realized his shirt had slipped halfway out of his pants. He quickly pulled it all the way out and let it fall down, hiding his erection. "Yeah, Bren?"

"Where are you going?"

"The girls need me downstairs."

"Then I'm coming with you."

"Are you sure? Why don't you stay up here?"

"It's coming back already, I can feel the ants already, just since you got out of bed."

"Ants?"

"The electricity, whatever. It's getting stronger. I need you, Jess. Please, touch me."

Jesse's eyes almost fluttered closed at the request. Brennan had said that to him in nighttime fantasies before, but to hear the real thing – it was almost too much. He knew he couldn't crawl back into bed with Brennan now; Brennan would have to come with him.

"Okay, let's go. Do you think you can walk?"

"Yeah, I think so."

Jesse returned to the bed, and reached out to take Brennan's hand. He hadn't realized the tremble that shook Brennan until his touch stopped it. Brennan breathed a sigh of relief, like an addict who had just taken a hit. He slid over to the side of the bed and with Jesse holding his hand, he tried to stand up and almost fell in the process. Jesse reached out with his other hand and grabbed him around the waist, steadying him.

"Brennan, this isn't a good idea."

"I'll be fine. I just need to get my legs back under me."

"Okay," Jesse gave in. "Let's go."

"Um, Jess… before we go, I need to go to the bathroom."

Jesse's heart stopped beating. "Um, what?"

"Can you walk me over to the bathroom? I need to piss first."

His heart now clamored as he walked Brennan to the bathroom, taking off like a rocket from its dead stop. He positioned Brennan in front of the toilet and steadied him, trying to look away, yet really wanting to look.

He found that Brennan's ego provided the solution. Everywhere that Jesse looked, mirrors faced back at him. He could see Brennan's cock in most of them. He swallowed thickly, and then closed his eyes – he couldn't handle this much temptation.

"You need to go?" Brennan asked, shaking the last drops out.

Jesse's erection throbbed in his jeans. _Sure, Brennan. I'll pull my hard cock out in front of you and stand there unable to pee because I'm too hard. Yeah, that won't freak you out at all._

"Nah, I'm fine," he forced himself to say as Brennan tucked himself back in.

"Okay, I'm ready."

Jesse looked at him. "Ready to wash your hands, I hope."

"Ummm, yeah, of course," Brennan answered circumspectly.

Jesse rolled his eyes. "I'm so not shaking hands with you anymore."

"It's not a big deal, Jess. It's not like I piss on my hands or anything. Besides, when was the last time we shook hands?"

"Just wash your hands, Brennan."

* * *

**Author's Notes:**

Okay, so I know you are asking yourself why I brought up the whole peeing and hand washing thing. Well, it helps further the story a little, believe it or not, but more importantly, I caught one my co-workers not washing his hands the other day, and I called him on it. The "it's not like I piss on my hands or anything" response was what I got back. Consider this my public service announcement on the subject. Wash your fucking hands, alright?

Also, I've already written the next two chapters. Hmmm, I wonder what it'll take to make me post them. I supposed I could be persuaded...with Pringles, of course!

Should I mention that one of those two chapters involves a shower scene? And Brennan? And Jesse? A few Pringles are worth that, right? And you wondered why I brought up the bathroom scene now...sheesh.


	10. Chapter 10

**For disclaimers, please see Chapter 1. **

* * *

Jesse steadied Brennan as he sat down onto a kitchen chair. Jesse moved to another chair and slumped into it, leaving his hand on Brennan's shoulder. "So what's up?" he asked.

"You look like hell, Jess," Shalimar answered, putting cups of coffee in front of them.

"Give me a break. I'll shower later." Images rose in his head of his hand on Brennan's shoulder, and then of him and Brennan naked in the shower together, Jesse's touch sliding all over Brennan's body. Jesse gasped slightly.

"Anything wrong, Jess?" Emma asked, a smile curving her lips.

Jesse groaned and rubbed his hand down across his face. "Nope." He now regretted admitting his feelings about Brennan to Emma while he had confessed his other fears and worries to her in the computer room. Of course, she had already known, or so she said, but would never have spoken to him about it until he made the first move. Now, however, Emma's smile clearly indicated she was okay with initiating "conversation" about it – and sending him images to back it up.

Shalimar stood up from the chair she sat in and walked over to confront Brennan, pulling his chair back from the table and then stepping in front of it. "There's one little thing that we have to settle first," she said, her words dripping promised pain. "Want to tell us about the hologram you made of Jesse, Brennan?"

Brennan's eyes widened and he looked over at Jesse. The younger molecular looked down, not meeting his gaze.

"Hologram?" he asked, trying to buy time.

"Emma? Catch him up, would you?" Shalimar asked sweetly, too sweetly.

Emma hesitated, but she knew this had to play out before they could move on. A small psychic orb hit Brennan on the forehead, and he gasped. Emma had included their own feelings as they watched the video, as well as Jesse's defeated acceptance of Brennan's behavior.

"I'm sorry," he exhaled. "I just… I just had all this energy, and the whole thing with Jesse in the prison – I can't let it go."

"So you decided to beat my little brother into a bloody pulp night after night?" Shalimar raged. "You thought it would be okay to attack my family?"

"It was just a hologram," Brennan started to justify, but broke off and stared at Shal.

"Doesn't matter," Shalimar answered. "What?" she asked him, confused by his stare. Brennan didn't answer.

Jesse leaned over and looked at her. "Um, Shal? Your nipples are showing."

Shalimar blushed crimson and fled to a corner of the room, her arms wrapped around her stomach. "Why does this keep happening?" she wailed.

Emma walked over to sooth her, leaving Brennan and Jesse alone at the table. Neither of the men knew what to say.

Finally, Brennan spoke. "I'm sorry, Jess. I know it was wrong. I just couldn't stop it. It was just a way to deal at first, you know? I didn't like that fact that I lost at the prison, and I was all juiced up from the steroids. I just needed to hit someone, to take out my anger."

"Rhoid rage, Brennan? I could understand that, but you've always treated me like shit. That's why… that's why this didn't surprise me." Jesse looked up at Brennan, deliberately shaking off his old, sulky demeanor. "I won't take it anymore, Brennan. Things are different now."

Brennan glanced at the hand that still rested on his shoulder. "I know," he breathed. "I'm sorry. I'll try to stop being such an ass."

Jesse felt confidence radiating through his body. He felt the new dynamic between them, the old one sloughed off like old skin. He glanced at his empty coffee cup, and stood up from the table, breaking contact with Brennan. He walked to the counter and picked up the carafe to pour himself more. He turned back to the table and noticed Brennan had tensed up in pain.

"Don't try, Brennan, do."

He walked back to the table and poured each of them more coffee. He set the carafe down in the center of the table and took his seat, his hand once again reaching out to touch Brennan and calm him.

Brennan looked at him, a small amount of anger in his eyes for the pain Jesse caused him by walking away. Jesse held his gaze, his eyes boring back down into Brennan's. An understanding passed between them, and Brennan dropped his eyes first.

* * *

"It's your emotions, Shal, it's got to be."

"What?" Shal couldn't stop staring at her stomach.

"Just now, I could feel you go all maternal about Jesse. Remember, you were talking about your little brother, and how Brennan couldn't hurt your family? You were the mother lion, Shal – ready to defend her cubs. It's just like your eyes – they flash yellow when you go feral."

"Then my claws should be out, Emma, because I'm ready to rip him apart." She glanced over at Brennan and saw him speaking softly with Jesse.

"Unless you know that you don't really want to hurt Brennan, deep inside."

"Oh no, I want to hurt him."

Emma looked at her.

"Okay, maybe only a little. But he needs to be taught a lesson!"

"Just like a mother, wanting to teach her cubs a lesson or two."

Shalimar sighed and looked up at her. "This is ridiculous. I can't have my body just randomly change based on my emotions."

"You'll just have to practice, Shal. You can control how your eyes go feral, right? You can switch that on and off at will. You'll just need to practice. Look down now."

Shalimar did, and saw that her nipples had vanished.

"Okay, so think about your claws now. Focus on them. Try to get them to come out."

Shalimar tried and then looked at her hands. "Nothing."

Emma broadcast a picture of Mason Eckhardt into the feral's mind, and her claws immediately extended.

Shalimar smiled, flexing her new weapons. "I really like these."

"You'll get the hang of it, I promise," Emma soothed.

They started to walk back over to the boys, when Shalimar stopped. "Em? What else do you think changes?"

* * *

When the girls had rejoined the boys at the table, Shalimar asked, "I really want to know, Brennan. Why would you do that?"

"I can't explain, Shal. I just needed to."

"It's alright, Shal. No harm done," Jesse soothed.

"No, Jesse, it's not alright. If we're going to get passed all of this, we need to be honest with each other."

"Speaking of honesty, Jesse," Brennan jumped in, "would you like to explain why you did this to me? Is it just so that you could be in charge?"

Jesse looked at Brennan in confusion. "Did this to you?" Jesse lifted his hand from his shoulder. "I haven't done anything to you except take away your pain, but if you don't want that…"

Brennan immediately seized up, electricity sparking along his fingers and in his eyes. "No, please." Jesse hadn't meant to hurt Brennan, he just reacted when accused. He quickly put his hand back, draining the charge from the electrical mutant.

"Okay, we all need to get on the same page here. Everybody, close your eyes," Emma instructed. "Now!" she ordered, when no one did so.

The eyes of her teammates closed, and then Emma closed her own.

"Now you can open them."

Shalimar asked the obvious. "So, what was that for?"

Emma replied, somewhat furtively. "We're in my mind now. We're all linked."

The other three looked around the kitchen, disbelieving. "We're still in the kitchen."

Emma looked at a wall and it morphed into a video screen. "No, we're not. And we don't have time to read the book, so we're gonna watch the movie instead."

"I'm guessing this isn't a new ability, so are there any other secrets you'd like to share, Emma?" Shalimar asked.

"Let's not go there, unless everyone wants to share? We can put all our secrets up on the big screen, if you'd like."

No one looked comfortable at the thought.

"I thought so. Besides, we don't have time. First things first, let's take care of this whole hologram thing. Brennan, let's start with the prison. Take us through it."

The screen shimmered as Brennan thought about it, and showed a prison cell from his perspective, as if they looked out through his eyes. The sounds of prisoners yelling filled the room, and they all felt rage boiling with them.

"Emma, what's going on?" Jesse asked.

"We're feeling what Brennan felt. We're going to relive the whole thing – they'll be no doubts as to what happened and why."

Brennan looked at Emma, panic in his eyes. Emma got a flash of Brennan masturbating in his cell, his hormones in overdrive because of the steroids. She carefully filtered that before it reached the screen. "Just what happened between you and Jess, Brennan. Focus on that."

Relieved, Brennan's eyes lost some of their intensity.

The screen shifted to the fight, and both of the women as well as Jesse gasped as they felt Brennan's intense rage and need to win. He needed to beat Jesse into the ground. Need to declare his superiority, his supremacy. They relived every moment of it.

When the screen dimmed and the rage cut off, they sagged into their chairs, emotionally wasted, all except for Emma, who as a psionic had more reserves.

"Brennan, show us the first time you used the hologram. I don't think we need to see each time."

Brennan squirmed, but complied.

The screen wavered again and they felt Brennan's memories of the electricity shooting beneath his skin, crawling everywhere, invading every part of his body.

"It was this bad weeks ago?"

"Yeah," Brennan admitted. "Looking back, that was nothing compared to how it feels now."

"I'm sorry, man," Jesse said, squeezing his shoulder slightly.

They watched as Brennan programmed the hologram, saw him tweak the stored image of Jesse. They all had stored patterns in the computer – for whatever the need. They often used Jesse's hologram as a rescue dummy, while he went off to grab leftover pizza or something. Jesse never seemed to get his fill of pizza.

Even though they watched it, felt it, relived it after a fashion, none of them understood why Brennan created the program. They all felt the need to go fight Jesse, but the reason behind it lacked clarity. Brennan had answered honestly when he said he didn't know why he did it.

Emma stopped the screen. "I don't think we need to see the rest, do you? Something pushed Brennan to this, and I have an idea what it might be."

Emma looked at the wall again, and it became a door, a door with a padlock on it, and caution tape strung across it. The door had a label on it marked "Jesse", which had been clawed partially away. Dents marred the surface, as well as bloody handprints.

"You've been blocked, Brennan. Just like Jesse, just like me. I suspect we all have been. And this one's big."

"What do you mean?" Brennan asked.

"It's hard to piece it all together, Brennan. But I suspect that when you were all jacked up on the steroids, your mind was going crazy. As you fought with Jesse at the prison, it kept coming up against this block. It obviously has something to do with Jesse, and your mind kept hammering away at this. You obsessed on destroying this barrier, which became Jesse out in the real world."

"So, hurting Jesse was my way of attacking the barrier?"

"Like I said, I'm just speculating, Brennan. You had all this energy streaming through you and you needed an outlet. The barrier, and Jesse as its embodiment, became that outlet."

"So why is it still there? Can you open it?"

Emma looked at the barrier. "Maybe, but Jesse has blocks just as strong that are threatening to break open and overwhelm him. We need to do this slowly."

"But this isn't my fault?" Brennan asked.

Emma made sure that everyone in the room felt the guilt Brennan had over what he had done to Jesse.

"No," Shalimar whispered. "It's not your fault."

Brennan looked at Jesse, who smiled. "Don't think this gets you off the hook for everything else, Bren… 'fantasy workout' my ass."

Brennan smiled back. He didn't know why, but he suddenly felt hope - hope that all of this would work out okay.

* * *

**Author's Notes: **

Feral's Revenge and Marie Crosby - thanks for sticking with this story. I appreciate it.

Daniel-lover-0013 - welcome! I'm glad you have enjoyed it so far. Thanks for reviewing!

So... no shower scene yet, that's the next chapter. I'm making some minor edits to it to make it a little more hot and steamy...what good is a shower unless it is hot and steamy, right?

Oh, one last thing - Shal's emotions and her new powers - that isn't a tribute to Charmed. Her eyes seem to flash when she is angry, ready for battle, etc., and there seems to be an emotional component there. Don't worry, I won't have Emma start saying things like "Your powers come from your emotions..." blah blah blah. I wouldn't do that to you.


	11. Chapter 11

**For disclaimers, please see Chapter 1.**

Okay, it's been over a month since I've posted. My apologies to those who've been expecting an udpate. I've rewritten this several times because the boys keep wanting to launch into graphic man-on-man squishiness (can't blame 'em, can you?), but the storyline just isn't there yet. I still don't know that I'm happy with this chapter, but I figure I need to just post and move on so that I can eventually get to that graphic man-on-man squishiness the boys want so desperately.

**

* * *

**

The four opened their eyes, and Jesse reached for his coffee, surprised to find it still warm.

"Em? I don't understand, how long?"

"It's only been a few minutes out here. Things happen faster in the mind."

Over what felt like an hour, if not more, the four had worked through their issues, and even resolved the issue whether Jesse had done anything to Brennan during the fight. Emma had replayed it from Jesse's perspective, and Jesse had done nothing, not even unintentionally. He had only felt concern for Brennan, wanting to help him.

"So, we're all together again?" Emma looked around the room and saw nods of agreement. Her eyes landed on Jesse last, who also nodded.

"Thanks, Em." Jesse's thanks were echoed around the room.

"It's all about family, right, Shal?"

Shal grinned and raised her hand, her brows knitted in concentration. Her claws extended and she wiggled them, pleased. "Well, that and kicking a little ass now and then…"

Emma nodded approval at Shal's accomplishment.

"Well, I think it's time Adam shared a few secrets, don't you think?" Jesse questioned.

"I'm all for that, but this coffee isn't going to cut it. I need food - eggs, bacon, toast, that kind of thing."

"It's four in the afternoon, Brennan."

"It doesn't matter. It feels like morning to me, and I don't think I've eaten anything solid in a while. I want food."

"Pizza?" Jesse tossed out.

* * *

"This is gonna take forever," Jesse grumbled. "Do you have any idea how many confidential files Adam has?"

"How many can there be?" Shalimar asked.

"Are you kidding? This is Adam we're talking about. He's got confidential files about his confidential files. It's like a maze."

"Sounds like Adam to me," Emma cut in.

Jesse stood up, accidentally breaking contact with Brennan. Brennan hissed as electricity immediately shot up his arms. Jesse quickly grabbed him, and the electrical storm abated.

"You guys can't live like this. What are you going to do?" Emma asked.

Shalimar sniffed delicately. "And no offense, but figure it out soon because you don't smell so great."

Jesse groaned as he remembered the shower image Emma had sent him earlier. Brennan groaned as well, but in comprehension. He had clued into the idea of Jesse tagging along with him in the shower.

"So, it'll be like the locker room, dude. No worries."

Jesse frowned at Brennan using the word dude, realizing it for the lame attempt at macho jocularity it was. Neither of them felt comfortable with the situation, but probably for different reasons.

"Emma, can you hand me those tablet computers?" Emma passed them over. "Thanks."

Jesse powered on the devices and copied some files over to each of them from the central computer. "Okay, everybody's got homework. Read these." He passed tablets around the room.

"There's probably going to be some really personal stuff in here. About Adam as well as us," Emma commented.

Brennan looked at her doubtfully. "This is Adam. It's going to be all geeky science stuff that we don't understand."

"You need to at least skim it," Jesse broken in. "If it looks like it could be personal about one of us, use the wireless network to transfer it to that person's tablet so they can read it first, and then they can share with us if they want to."

"Jesse? How much did you put on here?" Shalimar asked, scrolling through a directory on her tablet. "There are thousands of files on here!"

"It's gonna take awhile, Shal. No one keeps secrets like Adam."

Shalimar groused, but left with her tablet.

* * *

Brennan walked on his own, mostly, up to his room. A day of sitting around, primarily spent resting and reading, had helped tremendously. Jesse held his arm, as usual.

Brennan walked into his room and threw his tablet down on his bed. "Okay, Jess. I stink. You stink. We don't have a choice here. Even if I could stand the pain, electricity and water don't mix."

Jesse conceded the point with a slow nod. "So, I guess we do this. Wait! I know, I can stand outside the shower and we can just… touch somehow," he broke off lamely.

"Jesse? How many times have we accidentally broken contact today? No way, buddy. I'm not electrocuting myself. Until I figure out how to control this, you're coming in with me."

_Coming with him? _Jesse closed his eyes, praying for strength. How in the world would he control his erection while a naked, wet Brennan Mulwray lathered up in front of him?

_Oh shit. I shouldn't have thought about it. Down boy! Down!_

* * *

"So, you think they're showering yet?" Shalimar asked, for at least the tenth time.

Emma looked up from her tablet. "Shal, you are not going to go up there and spy on them."

"Oh, come on, Em. Wouldn't it be hot? Brennan and Jesse together? Two naked boys in the shower? Just 'take a look', please?" Shalimar begged.

Emma concentrated for a moment. "Nope, nothing is going on," Emma bent the truth, but just slightly. "Jesse's thinking about baseball."

* * *

In fact, Jesse recited every baseball statistic he could think of, unsuccessfully trying to block out the site of Brennan's naked ass in front of him.

"You could at least make yourself useful, you know? Wash my back," Brennan jested.

Jesse thought about it. The old Jesse would have laughed it off, running to hide from any possibility of exposing his feelings. For the past day or so, he'd noticed the difference in himself, just as the others had. He'd spoken, and they had listened, even did what he said. Whatever he had trapped within his mind yet, whatever came from it, he vowed that he'd stop acting like a chicken.

He reached out and grabbed the soap from the wall. He rubbed it across Brennan's back with one hand, the other hand rubbing slow circles. "Sure, Bren."

* * *

Brennan jumped as Jesse's hands began stroking his back, moving in small circles, slick with soap.

"Jesse?" he said in a low voice.

"Yeah, Bren?"

Brennan felt Jesse's hands widen their stroke into a larger path, gently soothing more of his back. With both of the molecular's hands now touching him, the flow of sub-dermal electricity from him to Jesse changed pitch, soothing him even further.

_It's just my back. It's just a massage. There's nothing gay about this, _he told himself.

"Nothing", he said aloud.

* * *

Jesse took Brennan's statement as consent and continued to soap his back. He worked his hands deep into taller man's shoulders, rubbing through knots of tension, breaking them free.

He smiled as he heard Brennan groan in response.

Jesse's hands roamed up and down Brennan's arms, across his back, even sweeping lower towards his ass.

* * *

Brennan felt conflicting emotions twisting around within him. When Jesse had first started lathering his back, it had relaxed him even more. However, as it continued, a heightened sense of awareness had seeped in. Brennan felt every touch, every caress, and with it came unmistakable pleasure.

A simple back rub would not cause such pleasure, but contact with Jesse's skin affected him like an aphrodisiac. And part if him wanted more.

That made him feel guilty. And gay.

And beneath all that, he felt his body reacting to Jesse's touch, not just physically, though he knew that part of him was responding as well. He felt his powers responding in kind, growing with the rest of him.

Power and pleasure each sought release.

"Jesse. Stop."

* * *

Jesse heard what Brennan said, but he also had heard the moan a moment before. "It's okay, Brennan. It's okay."

"No, Jess. I don't want..."

Jesse looked at the shadows they cast in the shower and saw a rising darkness from Brennan's groin. "Sshhh, it's okay. I've got you."

Jesse stepped closer to Brennan, sliding his arms around the elemental's thick chest, Jesse's chest pressed up against his back.

Brennan moaned again.

* * *

Within Brennan, electricity jumped from nerve ending to nerve ending, firing along the dendrites and axons within his brain, sparking his synapses at a wild rate. The increased contact with Jesse affected him like pouring gasoline on a fire.

"The water, Jess. The electricity, it's coming. I can't stop it."

* * *

Jesse froze only for a moment at hearing Brennan's words. He then quickly turned off the shower and with a thought banished the water and soap that clung to them both, drying them instantly.

But Jesse didn't step away, and he didn't let go.

Instead he clung tighter, making sure as much of his body touched Brennan as possible, even wrapping a leg around Brennan's. Brennan began to pant.

He pressed up, his mouth near Brennan's ear. "It's okay, Brennan. Let go. I've got you. You're safe with me. Don't fight it."

"Jesse!" Brennan keened. "I'm gonna…"

"It's okay, Bren. Let it happen, just let go."

Brennan tensed up, and then his whole body spasmed as he released.

* * *

Shalimar and Emma heard the boom from downstairs, and rushed to the source – Brennan's bedroom.

Shalimar pushed the door open, and the light from the door spilled into the dark room. "Jesse? Brennan? Are you guys okay?"

"Yeah, Shal," Jesse said from the bathroom, exhaustion evident in his voice.

"I'm coming in."

"No, Shal. It's alright. There was just a little accident in the bathroom. Water and electricity, you know… don't mix well," he lied.

"How's Brennan?" Emma asked.

"Dazed, but okay. He's a little out of it right now."

"All the lights are out in here, Jess. Everything looks burnt out." Shalimar said, her feral eyes gleaming as she surveyed the darkness.

"I'd say we just got a second taste of Brennan's new power… I drained what I could, but it caught me by surprise. Some must've leaked out."

Brennan moaned, and Shalimar moved towards the bathroom, but Emma stopped her with a hand on her shoulder. "I'm guessing they aren't ready for company, Shal. Shower and all, you know?"

Shal nodded. "Are you sure you don't want some help in there?" she asked, humor coloring her voice.

"Let's go, Shal. Let us know if you need anything guys." Emma pulled Shalimar out of the door and shut it behind them.

"You told me they were talking about baseball, not showering!" Shal confronted.

"No, I said Jesse was thinking about baseball."

"But…" Shalimar trailed off. "Oh…. OH!... Wait!" Shal called after the psionic, quickly trailing her down the hall.

* * *

Thanks to those who left reviews before. 

I know it's been a while, so please let me know if you want me to continue with this. Thanks.


	12. Chapter 12

**For disclaimers, please see Chapter 1.**

* * *

Brennan blinked his eyes a few times, attempting to get them to focus. Images swam before him, recent memories fighting with reality. He rubbed a hand over his face, fingers massaging his eyes. "What the fuck just happened?" His voice sounded gravelly, like someone else's, even to his own ears.

He pulled his hand away to see Jesse's face above him, beaming. "Hey, welcome back."

With those simple words, the past few minutes crashed down on Brennan, a tide of moments beating upon his mind. He saw the shower, remembered the feel of Jesse pressed up against him.

He felt Jesse's cock, hard and throbbing against his ass.

He felt Jesse's hand slip down in the last few moments, right before the electrical release, gripping Brennan's cock and stroking him to climax.

"What the fuck! What did you do to me?" Brennan shouted.

* * *

Jesse saw Brennan's face contort in pain, and reached out to touch him, thinking the pain had already returned.

"What the fuck! What did you do to me?" he heard Brennan shout. Brennan knocked his hand away.

"Don't touch me! Don't ever fucking touch me again!"

Jesse shrank back, his heart caving in on him. "Brennan, please," he begged. "It'll be okay."

Brennan rose shakily to his feet, holding tightly to the wall to steady himself. "This never happened. Do you hear me? This never happened. And don't come anywhere near me. You disgust me."

"Brennan, no – it'll be okay," Jesse repeated, and then he remembered that Brennan needed him, needed his touch. "We'll work through this, and you need me to help you to control the electricity."

Brennan looked at his hand, and flexed his fingers. Electricity crackled between them. He snapped his hand closed and the electricity dissipated instantly. "Not any more. Like I said, stay away from me and get the hell out of my room."

Jesse stared at him for a moment, but couldn't think of anything to say that would change things. He walked to the door, glancing at his clothes heaped on the floor, which vanished and reappeared on his body. He paused in the doorway, not looking back. "I'm sorry."

"Get the fuck out."

Jesse left.

* * *

"I have to get back in there. The risks are too high!"

"You will not leave this house, Adam. You need to give that boy some space."

Adam turned and walked across the kitchen to a window, looking out at the small, well-tended garden outside. "But I need to be there," he said, unconsciously clenching the curtain.

Cynthia gazed at him, concentrating lightly. Adam froze, and his fingers fell open, letting the curtain fall from his grasp. "The best thing for everyone right now is to get some rest and to give it some time. Things will work themselves out. They always do," Cynthia intoned.

Cynthia let her gaze drop, and reached out to her coffee mug, raising it to take a sip. "You were saying, Adam?"

The slight shiver Adam exhibited showed he had returned to conscious awareness. "Huh? Oh, I was just saying that I think the best thing for everyone right now is to get some rest and to give it some time. Things will work themselves out. They always do."

"You know best, Adam. I trust your judgment," Cynthia said, a smile curving the wrinkles in her face.

Adam turned to her, also smiling. "I think I'm going to take my own advice and go catch up on my sleep."

"Alright, dear. Sleep well."

* * *

Shalimar groaned, adjusting her position again. "This sucks."

"And it sucked two minutes ago when you last said it," Emma replied, not looking up from her pad.

Shal stretched slow and deep, letting her feline instincts surface. "Sorry, but it's not my fault. I was built for action, not research."

Emma looked up from her pad. "I know. And this is driving me crazy, too. It's been two days and we haven't found squat."

"Why can't Jesse just have the computer search the files for us?" Shal complained, and not for the first time.

"We've been over this. Jesse already filtered the files as best he could. These are just the files where our names appear. He can't search for personal information because we have no idea what that information might be, and it's probably not labeled personal or anything."

Shalimar sighed and returned to her reading.

"That bastard!" she cried out a few minutes later.

"What?"

"Adam knew this was going to happen to me. Well, technically it says "strongly suspect", but he knew."

"What did you find?"

"The bastard expected more feline traits to emerge physically. It says that he thought I would likely go into heat at some point and produce a litter." Shalimar's eyes flashed. "That's not going to happen. I'd get myself fixed first!"

Emma laughed.

"What's so funny?" Shalimar growled.

"It was just funny to hear you talking about getting 'fixed'. Most women would say something about getting their tubes tied or something like that. It sounds like you are starting to think of yourself as an actual cat."

"That's not funny."

"So if I went into the kitchen and opened a can of tuna, you wouldn't come running?"

"Oh, you're gonna pay for that." Shalimar jumped from her chair and pinned Emma to the couch, tickling her. Emma squirmed beneath the feral, gasping for air.

Jesse walked into the room, munching a piece of pizza. "Wow, I've had dreams that start out a lot like this."

Both women threw pillows at him.

* * *

Jesse settled back into the reclining chair at the computer station, closing his eyes for a minute. After his pillow pummeling at the hands of his female teammates, he'd made his escape when they had started shooting questions at him, which was far worse.

"Why aren't you and Brennan speaking?"

"How did Brennan get his powers under control?"

"Is Brennan okay?"

"Are you okay?"

He could do little more than shrug and escape to his computer. He wouldn't have told them the details about what happened anyway, but if he had wanted to, he couldn't risk upsetting Brennan even more. The elemental had been moody and reclusive since the incident, refusing to speak to him at all, and barely even to the girls.

"How could I have been so stupid?" he asked aloud.

He shook his head again regretting those few minutes of letting his hormones get the best of him.

He pressed a few keys on the keyboard and returned to his reading, and in doing so, stumbled upon a key to the mystery.

Jesse's fingers raced across the keyboard, redefining the search criteria and realized he had hit the motherlode.

* * *

"Hey Bren."

Brennan barely nodded in response to Shalimar and kept walking to the dojo.

Shalimar rolled her eyes at Emma. "What a grouch."

"He probably just needs time to process."

"Process what? His powers went wacky, Jesse saved him. Is this his whole Jesse competition thing again?"

"I think we'll find out soon enough, they can't keep this up forever."

"With as much as he's been in the dojo lately, he better not be beating up any more holographic Jesses."

"I think he learned his lesson on that one."

"It wouldn't hurt to double check," Shal said, standing up and stretching. "Besides, I need a break."

* * *

Jesse sat back from the computer, stunned.

He'd only read a handful a files and already his life had changed. Memories leaked out of his mental closet faster and faster.

He had a grandmother, a woman he had met, even fought, and not known.

He wasn't a molecular. He terrified Adam.

* * *

Shalimar approached the dojo cautiously, keeping out of sight. If Brennan had slipped back to bad habits, she didn't want him to have any warning.

She slid along a wall and slowly turned her head around the corner, taking in the view of the dojo.

Brennan jabbed and ducked, releasing terrifyingly large electrical currents on holographic opponents, obliterating them on contact.

Shalimar noted that none of the opponents looked like Jesse, and she turned to leave when she heard Brennan cry out in pain. She turned back to see streams of electricity arcing out from him, just like in the warehouse.

"Jesse!" she shouted into her comm-ring. "Come to the dojo! Brennan is overloading!"

Moments later, a blurry Jesse came running out of a wall in the dojo. He stayed insubstantial so that the electrical currents couldn't hit him. At the last moment, he materialized and tackled Brennan, taking the taller man down to the floor. Jesse grabbed onto him and started draining power as quickly as he could.

"Get off me!" Brennan yelled.

"What's going on?" Emma said, running up behind Shalimar.

"Brennan – we don't have a choice! You'll take out all of Sanctuary!"

* * *

Brennan fought within Jesse's arms, and Jesse wanted to turn solid and lock him in his embrace, but he worried that he couldn't do that and drain Brennan's power at the same time.

"I'm sorry, Brennan. I don't have a choice." Jesse concentrated for just a moment, and their clothing phased into nothingness, leaving both men naked.

Brennan gasped at the additional contact with Jesse's skin, and felt his emotions shift, going from rage to arousal. He moaned.

"I don't want this," he yelled at Jesse, but grabbed onto the younger man, pulling his naked body closer against him. "I'm not gay!" He twisted in Jesse's arms to face him. "Why can't I stop this?" he asked as he ground his rising cock against Jesse's. Both men moaned, ending when Brennan claimed Jesse's mouth.

Across the room, Shalimar hooted in delight.

Jesse tore his mouth from Brennan's and looked at Shalimar, who looked like a kid on Christmas morning. "Sorry, Shal," he mouthed, and walls appeared from nowhere, closing off the dojo from Emma and Shalimar, blocking their view.

Jesse could hear Shal pounding against the wall, but as Brennan began bucking against him, sliding their hard cocks back and forth against each other, he lost all other thought.

Electricity coursed between them, flickering and dancing as it exploded from Brennan and dove into Jesse. Jesse grabbed Brennan tighter and kissed the older man, their tongues dancing frantically.

"Going to cum soon," Brennan rumbled.

"Me, too." Jesse groaned. "Brennan, I love you."

Brennan's eyes flashed in confusion, but nothing could stop the pull towards release. Brennan cried out, spilling onto Jesse's stomach, and Jesse followed not a moment later.

Brennan slumped, his eyes drifting closed, the electricity within him at peace once again.

Jesse kissed him gently on the lips. "Sleep now and we'll talk when you wake up," he whispered. "About so many things…like how we really met, and how you kissed me on our first mission together."

* * *

**Author's Note:**

Thanks for all the feedback. One person in particular is responsible for this chapter – she harassed me until I wrote it. ;-)


	13. Chapter 13

**For disclaimers, please see Chapter 1.**

**Author's Note: Please let me know if you'd like me to continue this story. It seems only one or two people are still reading. I realize I don't post often, but quite honestly, more reviews more chapters.  
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"Oh my god, how hot was that?" the feral crowed, her eyes glassy. "All naked and big muscles and big… everything." Shalimar licked her lips unconsciously. "I mean, we knew about Brennan from his workout clothes, right? But Jesse? Holy crap. Know what I mean, Em?"

"Em?" Shalimar looked at Emma, who had her eyes squeezed shut, as well as her fists. "Oh, come on, Em… don't get all homophobic on me. It's sex, it's good, and lord knows they needed a way to work out their differences.'

"Can't block it out," Emma whispered through gritted teeth.

"Block it out? The sight of them naked together? Girl, you got problems, because that was…"

"Not that," Emma groaned, nearly in a pant. She raised her hand to her temple, and then pushed her fingers into her hair. They twisted, grabbing her hair tightly. Her mouth opened in a gasp. "Feel them… feel everything."

Shalimar gaped at her. "Are you serious?"

Emma fell back against the wall, head lolling to the side. She gasped again, and a moan escaped her lips. "Do I look like I'm joking? Please… get me out of here… away from here."

Shal reached out and took her arm, but Emma stiffened, a needy cry escaping from her. Another followed it, louder. Emma's eyes opened, glowing lavender. A louder cry next, and Shal watched as Emma's whole body arched against wall as she screamed "Oh god, yes!", and then slumped to the floor.

Shalimar bent to pick her up. "Fuck. I get peek-a-boo nipples and she gets to have orgasms from a frickin' psychic contact-high off two hot men going at it? This is so not fair. Fuck!"

* * *

Jesse strode into the bar, a cocky swagger in his step. He ordered a beer and smiled as the bartender asked him for his ID. He proudly pulled it out from his wallet and flashed it at the man. 

"You sure you're 21? You look younger than that to me."

"Just good genes, I guess." _And a really good fake ID, _he thought to himself. _Adam could make a fortune doing this for teenagers._

The bartender set his drink in front of him, and Jesse dropped some bills onto the counter. He picked up the drink and wandered off into the crowd, conscious of eyes raking over his body.

_Adam told me I'd have no problem get noticed in this place, but damn… guess I should take advantage and make some friends._

17-year-old Jesse downed his beer and headed out to the dance floor. It didn't take long for him to be engulfed in the crowd, men pressing up against him, hands reaching and rubbing, stealing handfuls of his ass and cock here and there.

_Oh yeah, Adam. Missions suck, _he thought with a smile.

A particularly large man got a little too forceful with him about twenty minutes later, grabbing him and pulling him to the back of the club. If this hadn't been exactly what Jesse had been waiting for, he would have decked him. However, when he got hit with chloroform a few minutes later, that surprised him.

* * *

Jesse woke up some time later, tied up in a small concrete room with a steel door. He could hear voices outside the room. 

He phased at the ropes fell through him and he stood up, turning solid once again. He crept up to the door and put his ear against it.

"Fuck! I hope Wainright gets here soon. I keep thinking about that guy's tight ass. My dick is so hard it feels like it's going to break. I don't know how much longer I can wait."

"You'll wait, and you'll like it. You know the boss gets first fuck. He's got a thing for twinks… especially twinks who might have cherry asses."

Jesse stepped back from the door. _Sounds like I'm in the right place._ He phased and stuck his head through a sidewall, looking for an exit. Jesse saw another cell, and a bloody body huddled in the corner.

He stepped through and solidified, rushing to the beaten man. The man looked up, startled, and cowered back, afraid of another beating.

"Shhh!" Jesse whispered. "I'm here to help."

"Help," the man repeated, his voice low and raspy.

"Are you Paul?"

He shook his head. "Matthew."

"Are there more people here? Held captive like you?"

"A few. They made us do things… to each other, and to them."

"Okay, don't worry. I'm gonna get you out of here. But I need to go look for a way out."

"You have a key?" he asked, his eyes hopeful.

"Nah… I don't bother with keys." Jesse smiled. "Can you keep a secret?" After the man nodded, Jesse continued, "Okay, don't tell anyone what you about to see… and don't yell or scream okay? Or I might not be able to get you out."

Jesse moved to a wall and phased through it, and left a gaping man behind him.

* * *

He quickly traversed the building, learning the layout and identifying the exit. The exit had been concealed cleverly on both sides, a sliding panel in the wall that fit almost seamlessly. The gay bar sat on one side of the wall, a house of horrors on the other. 

Now he needed to find some proof to shut this place down and get the captives out. He turned and walked away from the exit, and bumped into someone.

Jesse jumped back and massed, ready to attack, but faltered when he saw three things.

First, the stranger was easily the most handsome man he'd ever seen. Tall, dark, and handsome didn't begin to describe him.

Second, electricity coursed between his finger tips.

Third, he seemed just as shocked looking at Jesse all massed up.

The man snapped his fingers shut and the electricity dissipated. "Maybe we should talk first."

Jesse unmassed and agreed.

* * *

In low whispers, information changed hands. The handsome man called himself Brennan. He told Jesse he'd been hired to do a job, nothing more. 

"Does that involving raping the young men back there?"

"What are you talking about?"

Jesse could see from the surprise in his eyes that he indeed had no part of the rapes and murders of the young men. "What kind of job?"

"You a cop?"

Jesse shook his head. "No… but I am one of the good guys. What kind of job?"

"A heist. I'm a thief."

"And you've got powers. Control electricity."

"Yup. And you?"

"There's time for that later. In the back of that building, there are men held in cells. They've been beaten and raped and after awhile they'll be found dead, like the others. They took me earlier and now I …"

Jesse stopped when Brennan put his hand on his mouth and nodded to the door. Brennan hit the hidden switch to pull back the panel and quickly pushed them through, back out into the bar. He pulled Jesse out onto the dance floor.

"What are you doing?"

"If you want to live, follow my lead. People are coming." Brennan pulled off Jesse's shirt, leaving him bare-chested and stuck the corner of his shirt into his back pocket, letting the rest hang down. Then Brennan pulled off his own black skull cap and pulled it down onto Jesse's head

And then Brennan pulled him closer and kissed him.

And kissed him some more.

And Brennan's hands roamed his back and his ass, and Jesse could only cling to him, overwhelmed by the sudden passion.

"Hey! Mulwray! Put it back in your pants! I thought you were just coming up for a drink!"

Brennan raised his mouth from Jesse's, but turned Jesse's mouth to his neck, effectively keeping his face hidden from the other men who stood behind Jesse. Jesse recognized the voice – it belonged to the man who had grabbed him earlier.

"I'll be in there in a minute. I'm busy."

"He looks tasty. Bring him with you if you want."

"Sorry, boys. I don't share what's mine." Jesse felt him squeeze his ass, his fingers digging into his cleft, even through his jeans. Jesse gasped and grabbed onto Brennan more tightly. "And this one is definitely mine."

"Pity," the big man shrugged. "Boss'll be here soon. Don't make him wait." The men turned and grabbed a few bottled beers from the bar and headed back to the wall with the hidden panel. They turned the corner that shielded the wall from prying eyes, and Brennan let out a sigh.

Jesse didn't let go of him though. "Are they gone," he whispered, still licking and kissing Brennan's neck and ear.

"If I say no, will you keep doing that?"

Jesse looked up at him, smiling. Brennan captured his mouth in another kiss.

Brennan broke off the kiss and looked into his eyes. "So, a good guy, huh?"

"Uh huh."

"Help people and all that?" Brennan asked as he squeezed his ass again.

"Yes."

"And what can you do? I saw something happen to you when we bumped into each other, but I don't know what."

Jesse pushed his pelvis against the taller man, his erection grinding against the taller man's leg while Brennan's cock pushed at his abdomen. Brennan eyes closed briefly at the feeling. "I phase, and I mass."

"What's that mean?" Brennan said, lost in the feeling of Jesse continuing to grind against him.

"I can walk through walls if I'm phased and bullets bounce off me if I'm massed."

"Really? You sure you're a good guy, 'cause you and I would make a great team. We could steal anything."

Jesse stopped and looked him square in the eye. "Or, you can be a good guy and come help me save those men."

Brennan looked at him and said nothing.

"You and I would make a great team," Jesse repeated, grinding against him again, just a little.

Brennan smiled. "I suppose there are some fringe benefits to this whole team thing."

Jesse smiled back, coyly.

Brennan kissed him again, and then whispered in his ear, "Okay, I'll help you, and then I'm gonna fuck you silly."

Jesse shivered. "Brennan, I… uh."

"What? You a top?"

Jesse stammered. "I'm not sure. I've never actually done it before."

Brennan swallowed thickly. "You're a virgin? Guess I'm gonna have to take it slow the first time." Brennan kissed him gently.

"And … uh… I'm 17."

Brennan took a step back. "What? But you're in here and you look so hot, and your cock is so…" Brennan shook his head.

"Please help me. Help me help them."

"How long until you turn 18?"

"About two months."

"Fuck."

"Please? I'm begging you. If you want I'll get down on my knees."

Brennan's eyes glazed over. "Don't go there. Not for two months anyway." He grabbed Jesse's hand and pulled him over to the secret wall.

"God? You better be watching this, 'cause I want credit for it later!" he grumbled.

"Okay, I'll help you. But this doesn't mean I'm a good guy, and in two months, I'm gonna fuck you like there's no tomorrow."

Jesse looked at him sexily. "Let's get this clear. You're helping me 'cause you're a good guy, and you're waiting two months to fuck me because you're a good guy. And I'm not gonna let you fuck me as payment for helping me, I'm gonna let you fuck me because I've never lusted for anyone as bad as I want you, and I know you want me. We clear now?"

Brennan looked at him hungrily and more turned on than ever. "Clear," he said. "But if I die from blue balls in the next two months, it's all your fault."

"Oh, don't worry, I won't let that happen." Jesse moved in quickly and gave him another kiss. "Now let's go."

* * *

"What do you mean you brought home a friend, Jesse? Sanctuary is a secret!" Adam raged. 

"Look, he helped me get all those guys out and bust the operation up. They won't be grabbing any more guys."

"And that's great, Jesse, but you were only there to gather intel! You put yourself in a huge amount of danger!"

Jesse rolled his eyes. "You act more and more like my father every day!" Jesse shouted.

Adam stepped back as if stung. "I just worry about you, Jesse. And this guy you brought home, he's so much older, and I didn't even know you were gay! I thought you were just going to pretend for the mission."

Jesse walked over to him and put his hand on his shoulder. "I know you care, Adam. But I'm growing up and I know what I want. Besides, I don't think Brennan is just my boyfriend… I think he could help us, help all of us. His powers are really strong, Adam. He's not your average mutant."

Adam smiled at him, never able to stay angry with him for long. "Since when is there an average mutant?"

Jesse rolled his eyes again. "You know what I mean."

Adam looked at him with a predatory smile. "Does Shal know you brought home a boy yet?"

Jesse's eyes widened. "Oh shit."

* * *

Brennan woke in Jesse's arms hours later, Jesse sleeping softly. 

He looked down and realized they were naked and felt the drying cum on his belly.

"What the fuck?" he whispered, pulling away from Jesse quickly, waking him up.

"What the fuck are you doing to me?" Brennan shouted. "I am not gay! Stop doing this to me!" Brennan bolted to where the door should have been and met a solid wall. "Let me go! Let me go!" he shouted.

"Brennan, just calm down. Everything is okay."

"Okay? Okay? Everything is not okay. You keep making me do things with you."

"No, Brennan. I'm not making you do anything."

"I'm not gay, okay! I wouldn't just do those things."

"Brennan, Adam did things to us. Changed our memories. You and I were in love… until Adam screwed everything up."

Brennan looked at him in shock. "There's no way. That's not possible. I'm straight."

"It'll be okay, once you remember."

"Fuck that! I'm not gay, and you aren't going to make me gay."

"Brennan," Jesse said, moving towards him and reaching out his hand.

"Don't fucking touch me. You touch me and make me feel … things I shouldn't feel. Just leave me alone."

Jesse sighed. "Okay. But I'm going to send you some of Adam's files that I found, okay? It'll explain everything."

"Doesn't matter, I'm not gonna read them. You probably made them up. I'm not gay, just accept that."

"Brennan, I love you and I'm not gonna give up on you." Jesse glanced at the walls and they vanished, and Brennan ran. "I'm not giving up on us."

* * *

To be continued? 

12/30/2005


	14. Chapter 14

**For disclaimers, please see Chapter 1.**

**Warning: there's some het sex in here… yeah, I know… squick!**

**Also - my thanks to Feral's Revenge, dragon, invisible, Anamalia-Fear, koalared and coffeeboy for their feedback and email. See how this works? I'm obviously a review slut, 'cause here I am posting again only a few days later.  
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"Brennan," Shalimar said, standing in the doorway to his room. Brennan ignored her and continued shoving clothes into his bag. "Brennan, you can talk to me or I can kick your ass. It's your choice."

"Just leave me alone, Shal, I'm not in the mood," Brennan replied, not looking up from his bag.

"I'm not letting you leave, Bren. You are part of this family. Nothing changes that."

"Don't go all Mother Protector on me, Shal. I'm not Jesse. And I'm only leaving for a little while, just to think things through." He zipped up his duffel bag and turned to face her.

"That's how it starts, Bren. You leave just for a little while, and then you don't come back." Shal wiped a tear from her eye. "Don't leave us, Brennan, please."

Brennan hoisted the duffel bag by its strap and settled it onto his shoulder. He took a few steps toward the door, towards Shal, and lifted his hand to caress her face, as he had done so many times before. But inches from her face, he stopped, pulling his hand back and looking at it briefly, before putting it back down at his side. "I'm sorry, Shal. I just… I just can't be here right now." He stepped around her and left.

* * *

Brennan pulled the tarp off his baby, his '64 BMW R69S. It had taken him months to restore this classic bike to its former glory, and now she was perfect. He ran his hand along the seat and said "Guess it's just you and me, babe." 

Grabbing a couple of bungee cords, he secured his duffel bag and a lightweight sleeping bag on the rear of the large seat and then slid his leg across, settling in. His foot moved to the kickstart and she fired up immediately, the engine running smooth and whisper quiet.

From his coat pocket, he pulled out a small copper box. He tugged to open the lid and then slid his MutantX ring off his finger and dropped it into the box. He wiggled the lid back down and then put the box back in his pocket.

He closed his eyes for a moment, feeling the current surging beneath his skin. It had only been hours since his last… release… and he could feel the ants beginning their march already.

He revved the engine and then pulled out of the garage, out of MutantX.

* * *

"You okay?" 

Jesse rubbed his face and then turned his red and swollen eyes to Emma. "What if he doesn't come back?"

Emma slid down onto the bed, curling up against him. She wrapped an arm around his chest and rested her head on his shoulder. "He will. He will."

"What if he gets hurt? I won't be there if he has another power surge."

Shalimar walked into Jesse's room, a few tears streaking down her face. Jesse and Emma looked at the doorway where she stood. "He's gone. He just took off on his bike." She practically leapt to the bed and snuggled down on Jesse's other side.

Jesse took a deep breath. "I just don't understand."

No one said anything for a while. "He'll come back. I know he will."

"I hope you're right, Em."

"In the meantime, we still have a lot to figure out. And we'll just think happy thoughts."

"Happy thoughts, huh? Somehow I doubt that will help," Jesse frowned. "What do you think, Shal?"

Shal rolled her eyes.

"Well, it'll help me…being empathic and all… so think happy thoughts," Emma commanded with a smile.

Jesse thought for a moment and then smiled big.

Emma quickly raised her head up and looked at him. "Don't go there. I'm warning you."

"What?" Jesse laughed, looking back and forth at the two women pressed up against him. "I've had dreams that start out a lot like this."

Shalimar sat up and looked at Emma. "Whatcha think?"

Emma's brow furrowed for a moment. "Okay, I'm in."

"Um… wait a min" Jesse started to say, a little worried, but was cut off by his own screaming as they tickled him mercilessly.

* * *

Brennan sped along the highway, headed for the mountains. His thoughts kept drifting towards the events of the past few hours, no matter how desperately he tried to keep his mind on the road. The heat and friction of the large bike between his legs served to be a constant reminder of what it had been like to lay with Jesse, their bodies writhing against each other. 

He violently shoved the thought out of his head, just as he had done the last dozen times it had crept up on him. "Not gay," he chanted like a mantra.

After hours of riding, he pulled over at a diner to grab some food. He sat down in a booth and a waitress sauntered up to his table. She had blond hair and blue eyes, big tits and legs that went for miles… in other words, just his type.

"Hi handsome," she purred. "What can I get for you?" As she said it, she played with the long pendant that hung around her neck, drawing even more attention to her cleavage.

Brennan gave her a half-smile, half-smirk – 100 effective against the fairer sex. "Oh, I think I'll leave it up to you, beautiful."

The waitress put the tip of her pen in her mouth, pretending to think for a moment, and then slowly pulled it out. "I can think of a few things you might like."

Brennan looked around the diner, empty at this time of night. "You here all alone?" he asked, taking off his jacket to reveal the tight t-shirt underneath.

"Cook's on break. Won't be back for 20 more minutes," Sandy, according to her name tag, answered. "While he's gone, I'll just have to find a way to satisfy your… appetite."

Minutes later, he had her bent over the table, in full view of any passing traffic. He kept hoping for a car to drive by, to witness that yes, he, Brennan Mulwray, was a 100 red-blooded, heterosexual male.

"Oh god," she moaned. "Feels so fucking good! Yes! Yes!" Brennan slammed into her harder, faster. "Oh god… what are you doing with your cock? That feels so fucking good. Yes!" she screamed.

Brennan ignored her words and just kept sliding himself in and out of her.

"Oh fuck… oh fuck… gonna cum again…" Her breath caught in her throat and she shook again, maybe for the third or fourth time.

_This is just what I needed, _Brennan thought. _No one who can fuck a chick this good can be gay._

"Oh Jesus…" she panted. "You're a fucking god. Your cock is better than a vibrator… and it makes me tingle and twitch. Oh god! Yes! More!" She head thrashed back and forth and she shuddered again.

_Vibrator?_ Brennan wondered for a moment, and then realized that a slight current of electricity had centered in his dick, discharging slowly into Sandy. He upped the current just a little, and Sandy cried out, wordless babble streaming from her mouth. Brennan had always liked the vocal ones.

_Now Jesse, he was a fucking screamer when I had my dick up him, _Brennan thought, and that pushed him over the edge. Sandy shuddered around him as he came, with a cry that could have shattered crystal.

_Where the fuck did that come from?_, he asked himself. Brennan felt dirty, and he needed to leave, now. The thought of Jesse was what had made him cum.

_But I never fucked him, and I'm not fucking gay! _he shouted in his head.

He pulled out of her slowly, taking care not to break the lambskin condom, the kind he favored. He tied it off quickly and shoved his cock back in his jeans, desperate to get out of there. He looked behind the counter and saw a trash can so he dumped the condom, which only left him the waitress to deal with.

Sandy hadn't even risen from the table yet, instead she had collapsed onto it, still breathing heavy. Brennan walked up to her and she smiled. "That… that was amazing."

Bile rose in Brennan's throat.

Slowly, she lifted herself off the table, and pulled her panties up, finishing with smoothing out her uniform. "I don't think I've ever had that many orgasms," she added, with a very contented smile.

The bile rose higher, and Brennan wanted nothing more than to run from the diner.

Sandy couldn't read the expression on Brennan's face. "Did you want something to eat? And then maybe we could go again?"

Brennan swallowed thickly. "No… but uh… it was a … pleasure meeting you. I've uh… got to get back on the road."

"Suit yourself," Sandy replied. "I should probably wipe down this table," she said, grabbing a rag.

Brennan bolted for the door and managed to go a mile on his motorcycle before he had to pull over and puke.

Meanwhile, Sandy held the diner payphone in her hand and told her best friend Kate about the hottest man she'd ever seen that had just fucked her silly and then left, never even giving his name.

* * *

"So that's how you and Brennan met?" Emma asked. 

"Yup, in a gay bar while I was on a mission."

Shalimar snorted. "Sounds like more of a date than a mission."

Jesse smiled. "You said pretty much the same thing after you found out. That was, of course, after I convinced you not to tear Brennan to pieces."

"Me? Tear Brennan to pieces?" she asked with a smile.

"Try to remember, Shal," Emma encouraged.

"First you thought he was an intruder. Adam had just asked me if I had told you yet when I heard Brennan yell. When I got there, you had him pinned to the floor, one hand squeezing his neck and the other hand squeezing his balls."

Shalimar grinned. "Sounds like the right way to control a man."

Jesse ignored her. "When I got there, I told you that I had brought him there and to let him go, which you didn't want to do, but you finally gave in. Then you wanted to know why he was there, and how we met… and when you found out, you attacked him again… and his balls."

A glimmer of the memory surfaced in Shalimar's mind, and she smiled. "And I told him that if he hurt you, I'd tear 'em off… slowly, one at a time."

"Pretty much. Except I remember you adding something about how cats like to have balls to bat around… and claw… and shred."

Shalimar's grin grew larger. "Ah, it's nice to get a happy memory back… and now I can back up the claws threat," she said, extending and flexing her new favorite toys.

Emma shook her head at Shalimar and then turned back to Jesse. "What else do you remember?"

"Well, it's all pretty jumbled. I've got a lot of random pictures in my head, most of which don't make sense. I only gone through a few of Adam's files, but those were pretty shocking."

"Like what?" Shal asked, retracting her claws and looking at him intently. "Spill."

"Well, I'm not a molecular for one." Jesse picked up the pad where he had stored the new files. "I happened to find a file where he referenced me by name as well as 'Subject J.' When I saw that, I ran searches for Subjects J, S, E and B. A whole bunch of new files turned up."

"Subject S?" Shalimar asked. "That sounds really clinical and impersonal."

"It actually makes a lot of sense, Shal – it's a very simplistic code, but pretty effective. If Adam hadn't made that slip in one of his files, I never would have caught it – it would have taken us forever to find these. Even if you tried search by our initials, these records wouldn't turn up, and even if you just searched for "S", just about every file in the computer would turn up."

"Hiding in plain sight then?" Emma asked.

"Exactly," Jessed nodded.

"So back to you not being a molecular. What are you then? And any ideas what Adam wanted that kept a secret?"

"Nope, no reasons for the secretive stuff yet. Adam didn't give me a category, but apparently I work at the sub-molecular level."

Shal squinted her eyes, thinking. "Electrons? Protons? That sort of thing?"

"Smaller," Jesse said.

"Jess – aren't those the smallest building blocks? I remember that from my high school science class," Emma piped in.

"Officially, yes, but there's a theory that there's an even smaller particle that everything is made up of. It's called a quark. Adam thinks that I control quarks – pretty much creating and destroying matter itself."

Emma flashed back to their earlier conversation about the laws of physics. "Hold on. I thought there was some law that said matter couldn't be created or destroyed."

Jesse smiled cockily. "I guess whoever wrote that law never met me."

"So, you're a quark-ular?" Shal asked, trying out the strange sounding word. Then her eyes brightened. "You're a quarker!"

Jesse's jaw dropped. "A quarker? That's awful. I am not a quarker."

"Jesse's a quarker! Jesse's a quarker!" Shal sang.

"Shal, stop it! Shut up!" Jesse looked at Emma for help.

"I'm staying out of this," Emma laughed.

"Jess is a quarker! Jess is a quarker!" Shal continued. "Umpgghh!" A gag suddenly appeared in Shal's mouth.

"Don't mess with me," Jesse chuckled, adding "And how can this be? For he is the Kwisatz Haderach!"

Shal extended her claws and sliced through the gag. "Oh please. Kyle MacLachlan is much hotter than you."

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

"Is not!"

"Is too!"

Emma stood up. "I have no idea what you are talking about, and I'm leaving before this becomes the 'Is not to infinity" argument.' Let me know when you're not 8 years old anymore."

Jesse and Shal looked at each other, and then tackled Emma together. "No!" Emma wailed as they began tickling her.

"Oh yes, Emma-kins. You've been acting far too mature lately," Shal declared, and continued the tickle assault.

br

"I'm not talking to you," Emma sniffed, while brushing her hair in her room.

"Oh, come on, Em. It felt good to laugh like that, right?"

"That's not the point, Shal. You tickled me until I peed myself."

Shal tried to hold in the laugh, but couldn't.

"Sorry, I'm sorry. It's not funny." Shal burst out laughing again. "It's really not funny," she added still laughing.

Emma tried to hide the smile curving her mouth but couldn't, so she gave in and joined Shal in laughter.

* * *

Feedback? Please:-)

01/04/2005


	15. Chapter 15

**For disclaimers, please see Chapter 1. **

**Author's Notes: **

**So, it's been a long time since I posted. Unfortunately, something from the WB's _Supernatural_ ate my muse. It's now haunting me with beautiful images of Dean and Sam (sigh). I've tried to write this chapter at least a dozen times without success. So, I'm just going to force my way through and hope that my muse is somehow resurrected over here in MutantX land. **

**In other words, this'll probably suck. You've been warned. **

**Also, things from the last chapter: **

**Kyle MacLachlan in _Dune_. Go to IMDB dot com, and search for him. Ignore the goofy pic of him on his page, and instead click on photos. Look at the third one down, from Dune... with his chest partially exposed. ****Then remember that it was taken in 1983! Very, very hot for 1983, especially when everyone else looked like a big dork. It _was_ the _80's_ for god's sake. **

**Oh...the lambskin condom reference… Latex would have dampened/blocked the electrical current, so I couldn't go there, but bareback and Brennan don't mix (unless it's with Jesse). For reference though, lambskin is not effective against STD transmissions. Be safe.  
**

**

* * *

**

Brennan eased his bike off the road, sliding in behind some trees. He turned off the engine and hopped off, then walked out to the road, looking back at his bike. After checking several angles, he felt satisfied that no one would spot his bike if they drove by. In this desolate area, the chances of that happening seemed slim, but he preferred not to take a chance with his baby. 

He headed back to his bike and grabbed his duffel and his sleeping bag and then turned to head deeper into the trees and farther up the mountain.

* * *

"What should we do now?" Emma asked. 

"I'm not sure. Adam won't stay gone forever, and we haven't uncovered anything big enough to explain wiping our memories."

"Nothing can explain that," Shalimar said firmly. "Our lives are our own."

"True enough," Jesse replied. "But I mean, why would he want to hide the fact that I'm more powerful? Just think of all the things I could have done on missions… the people I could have saved."

"Maybe it didn't have anything to do with your powers." Emma stood up from her chair and paced the room. "Maybe it had something to do with you and Brennan?"

"You mean being gay?" Jesse paused, a darkness shadowing his eyes before he turned to look out the window he leaned against. "Or, at least me being gay."

Shalimar rolled her eyes. "Oh, believe me, Brennan's gay, too."

Both Emma and Jesse looked at her questioningly, and Shalimar flushed slightly and dropped her eyes. Jesse knew that look. "Spill."

Shalimar raised her eyes, sheepish. "Okay, but promise not to get mad?"

Jesse folded his arms over his chest. "I'm not promising anything," he said, before pausing thoughtfully. "Except, I do promise that if you don't come clean about this, I'll make your peek-a-boo nipples not so peek-a-boo."

Shalimar looked at him, confusion evident on her face. "I'll make 'em stick out permanently," he said, exasperated.

"You think you can do that?" Shalimar challenged, moving to the center of the room.

Jesse raised an eyebrow. "Wanna find out?" he asked, walking to stand in front of her.

Shalimar backed down, realizing he probably could do it. "Fine, brat. Maybe that's why Adam made you forget your powers. 'Cause you're a giant brat when you have them."

Emma raised her hands to her face, rubbing her temples. "That's enough!" Emma declared, a mental thunder echoing her words, silencing the other two mutants, who stared at her in shock. "I'm sick of this petty bickering. You aren't six years old anymore."

Jesse turned his head toward Shal and found her twisting to look at him. "What's her problem?" they asked at the same time, smiling.

Emma kept rubbing at her temples. "Ha. Ha. Very funny… Not." She dropped her hands back to her lap. "You're giving me a headache with your childish fighting over everything."

"Yeah, Jess. Stop it. You're giving Emma a headache." She pushed Jesse playfully.

Jesse, acting as if he had been mortally attacked, pushed her back. "Me? It's all you. You started it."

"I've had it!" Emma yelled. She pointed at Jesse. "You, Superboy! Have a seat." Jesse suddenly flew across the room and landed in a chair. He stared at her, bewildered, but Shalimar mocking him got his attention. He opened his mouth but couldn't speak, and he sat rigidly in the chair.

"Superboy! Ha! She called you…" and then Shalimar flew across the room to land in another chair.

"That's enough from you, too, Hell Cat." Emma stood and walked to the bar and poured herself a drink, and downed it one swallow. She poured herself another and turned to look at them. "Did you two always do this? Was it just spread out between me, Adam and Brennan? You're driving me crazy."

Emma downed the second shot and put the glass back on the counter, realizing that she could have been broadcasting her own frustration and making things worse between the two almost siblings. "Now, Jess, I realize you could probably do any number of things to me right now and there's not a thing I could do to stop you. But, I'm asking you, pleading with you actually, just to sit tight and let Shal tell her story. For my sanity, please."

She glanced at him and Jesse lost his stiff posture in the chair. He opened his mouth to say something, but Emma held up a finger. "Please, Jess."

Jesse conceded, closing his mouth and crossing his arms in the chair, obviously not happy, especially seeing that Shalimar's eyes were dancing with laughter, though she couldn't speak either.

"Don't think you are getting off easily here, missy," Emma said, and Shalimar sobered instantly. "You're gonna tell your story and that's it, okay? All I'm asking for is about 10 minutes without you two going at. This whole brother/sister messing with each other thing is old."

Shalimar relaxed in her chair as well. "Okay, fine. So I know Superboy's boyfriend…", Shalimar pointedly ignored the look of outrage on Jesse's face, but toned down her attitude after getting a mental shove from Emma, "is gay because… well… I tested him."

"Tested him how?" Emma asked.

"I, uh, came onto him."

Emma sent soothing waves to Jesse, which helped his eyes return back into their sockets. "When?" he whispered.

"It was a few days after you brought him here for the first time. I remembered earlier, when you described how I grabbed his balls. It made me remember other… uh… things."

Emma reached out to quell the anger coming from Jesse, but found it strangely absent. She realized this had played into his fears, crushing him rather than angering him.

"I wanted to make sure he wasn't playing you. Think about it, you came home with this guy, a guy you had fallen in complete love with in the space of a couple of hours and were calling him your boyfriend. A guy who you admitted was a thief and now suddenly you wanted him to join the team. What was I supposed to think? It sounded crazy. It still does, actually. I just didn't want you to get hurt."

"What did you do, Shal?" Emma asked the question. Jesse stayed silent in his chair, broken.

"A few days after Brennan got here, Jesse was down in the lab with Adam doing some tests. Brennan was in the shower." Shalimar paused and swallowed nervously. "So, I slipped into the bathroom and took off my clothes and got into the shower with him."

Shalimar stared at Jesse's down-turned head, wishing she could see his eyes. "I stepped up behind him and ran my hand down his back. He thought I was you," she whispered. "So, I cupped his ass, and then reached around and grabbed other things." She swallowed again. "He knew as soon as I stroked him that I wasn't you, said my hand was too small. He pushed my hand away and spun around. He asked me what the hell I was doing."

"I told him to hush, and to just go with it. I pressed myself up against him, confident that I could expose him for what he was… a fraud. He told me to stop, but I ground my breasts against him, and tried to kiss him."

"Instead, he pushed me away and told me to get the hell out. I tried a couple more times, but he kept pushing me away. Finally, he grabbed me and pushed me up against the shower wall, and I thought ,'Yes! Got him!', but instead all he did was move around me and get out of the shower. He wrapped a towel around himself and left."

"So, you see, Jess? That settles it," Emma soothed.

"That's not all. He wasn't even… uh… excited. He didn't react at all. And trust me, any guy even remotely straight would have…uh… stood up and took notice."

"'Cause it was you, right?" Emma smirked.

"Of course. Plus, I was naked. I mean, come on."

Emma walked over and squeezed into the chair with Jesse, wrapping her arms around him. "I'm convinced, Jess. Just give Brennan some time to figure it out."

"Are we good, Jess?" Shalimar asked

Jesse nodded, his heart too heavy to speak.

* * *

Brennan concentrated on the pain racing beneath his skin, and tried to direct it towards his fingertips, firing another blast of electricity high into the sky. 

The concussive wave from the blast threw him back against a tree. He stood up, groaning.

The forces within him grew at a steady rate, along with the pain, and he knew they would eventually overwhelm him. He didn't have Jesse at his side, his hands and arms and body draining away the pain and wild energy.

_Jesse. _

Brennan forced the young man from his mind again, but only moments past before images rose up again. Jesse's light hair and pale skin against his own darker colors.

He let out a growl and fired another blast up into the sky and found himself forced down upon the ground, almost knocking himself out. Lying there for a moment, his hand went to his pocket and found the copper box. He considered opening it and calling for help, hoping that the copper had protected it from his new electromagnetic pulses, which would normally fry the sensitive circuitry.

Instead, he pulled himself to his feet once again. "I can do this. I just have to hold it together, and I'll get control, just like always."

Thoughts of Jesse didn't help. It seemed like the more he tried the harder it became to ignore them. He saw Jesse laughing as he pulled thong underwear out of box, wrapping paper scattered around him. "You honestly expect me to wear these, Bren?" he laughed.

A wave of pain broke the image, and another replaced it as it ebbed. Jesse lying on top of him, his own legs spread as Jesse filled him. "I love you," Jesse whispered in his ear. "I love you."

Another crest of pain, and Brennan saw Jesse spread out next to him on his bed, the young man's arms and legs everywhere. Brennan saw his hand reaching out to push Jesse's bangs away from his face, his fingers running through the sex-messed hair. "I love you, too, Jess," he whispered.

The image shifted and Brennan saw himself holding a crying Jesse, his face streaked with tears. "We'll get through this, Jesse, okay? We'll get through this together."

Faced with image after image, Brennan could no longer deny his relationship with Jesse, or the feelings he had for him. _I'm in love with Jesse, _he thought, and knew it to be trueDespite the pain, Brennan found a small amount of joy.

Accepting his feelings for Jesse unlocked the door within, and memories came pouring out, faster than he could understand. However, pain came crashing down upon him once again, and thought was nearly impossible.

Like he had accepted his love for Jesse, Brennan decided to accept the pain rather than rail against it.

The pain swallowed him whole.

* * *

Jesse jerked awake from his fitful sleep at the sound of the alarm blaring through Sanctuary. He jumped out of bed and ran to the control room, materializing clothing for himself as he phased through walls, taking the shortest route possible. Dropping through the floor above, he landed in the control room and took a seat in the one of the recumbent chairs. 

His fingers shot across the keyboard and the claxon ended. Next a satellite image appeared on the screen, and Jesse worked on narrowing the focus when Shalimar and Emma entered.

"What's going on, Jesse?"

"An electromagnetic pulse was just detected, up in the mountains..." Jesse's breath hitched as he broke off.

Shalimar and Emma inhaled sharply, knowing what that might mean.

Jesse continued pressing keys, shifting the satellite image and then switching to a news feed.

"Jesse?"

A newscaster's voice came across the speakers. "With late breaking news, this is Tricia Takanowa. Just minutes ago, it appears that a terrorist device has been detonated somewhere in the mountains to the north. An EMP, or electromagnetic pulse, is designed to take out electronics, rendering them useless. Just a moment, please. The White House has just issued a statement that they believe this to be an Al Qaeda plot that has backfired. We are at threat level red, indicating that we are at severe risk of additional attacks…"

Jesse turned off the broadcast. "Brennan."

"We'll go look for him, Jess. We'll find him," Shal encouraged.

"But what if…" Jesse couldn't finish.

"Guys," Emma breathed. "This just got a whole lot worse. This isn't just us anymore."

Shalimar nodded. "We need Adam."

* * *

End Part 15  
02/20/2005 


	16. Chapter 16

**For disclaimers, please see Chapter 1.**

**Author's Notes:**

**Sigh. Still no MutantX muse. Sigh.**

**Sigh.  
**

* * *

"Adam?" Cynthia said into the dark room, before flipping on the light.

Adam stirred, his eyes opening and blinking them at the sudden harsh light. "What is it?"

"Something's happened."

"What is it?"

"Just get dressed. You're needed at Sanctuary."

* * *

"…martial law has been declared…"

Click.

"…electromagnetic pulse in a remote area…"

Click.

"…the President has vowed to punish those responsible…"

Click.

"...the attempted terrorist bombing is sending shockwaves throughout…"

Click.

Shalimar put the remote down on the table after switching off the television. "It's on every channel."

"It's big news – it's what we've been told to fear." Emma glanced at her watch. "And it's only been

20 minutes since it happened."

"Call me paranoid, but isn't it odd the White House had a statement so soon? Only minutes after it happened? That seems a little prepared in advance to me. Like Homeland Security has just been waiting for an opportunity like this…"

Shal broke off when she noticed Emma rubbing her temples.

"Headache still bothering you, Em?" Shalimar asked.

Emma grimaced. "Yeah. It's getting worse." She reached for the bottle of aspirin on the table in front of her, but the bottle slid over into her hand before she had reached very far.

"Em, I didn't say anything earlier when you moved Jesse and I across the room, but now I have to ask. How long have you been able to do this? Is this new, or something else you've been hiding?"

Emma shook her head after taking another two aspirin, swallowing them along with a sip of water. She set the glass back on the table. "It was a week or two before Brennan fried the warehouse. It was little things at first – I wasn't even sure it was happening. I'd reach for my shampoo in the shower and it just felt a little closer than it should have been – I wasn't reaching all the way to get it. It was getting strong enough to actually show you guys when Brennan had his overload, and our world got turned upside down."

"Now that you mention it, I remember you complaining about them for a while. That was your complaint about Brennan and Jesse at one time, that they were giving you a headache. Remember the cereal incident?"

Jesse walked into the room and drew their attention. "I can trace Brennan's comm signal at all. I have to go look for him."

"Maybe it was a terrorist act, Jess. Maybe it wasn't him."

Jesse shook his head. "We both know how unlikely that is. Em? Can you sense him? Can you tell me if he's still alive?"

Emma shook her head. "He'd be way out of my range, even if I didn't have this headache."

Jesse noticed the aspirin on the table. "That's," he glanced as the bottle, "not helping?"

Shal answered for her. "No… I think this has to do with her mutation. The shield, the whole moving objects with her mind thing…"

"Telekinesis," Jesse supplied.

"Whatever. I think she's having trouble adjusting to her mutation."

"Hello, I'm right here," Emma said.

"Is that true, Em?"

"I don't know, but I'm worried. Adam's not here to see what's happening with my genetic code. We all know the risks that come with another mutation – at some point, it'll be too much, and we'll die."

"Brennan," Jesse whispered, pain evident in his voice. "We have to find him."

"I wish I could help, Jess, but I can barely concentrate."

"I can't lose Brennan, if it's not already too late. And you are my best hope – the area that EMP covered is huge – we can't search for him on foot – it'll take too long to find him. I need you."

"Jesse, you know I would help if I could, but I just can't."

Jesse rubbed his hands across his face. "There's got to be a way. Do you really think you're mutation is causing the pain?"

"I don't know, Jess. And without Adam here, there's no way to know."

"He'll be here in a few hours."

"What?" Shalimar asked.

"I called Cynthia. She said she'd send Adam, but it will take him a few hours to get here."

"You called that old woman who tried to kill us?" Shalimar raged.

"It's more complicated than that, Shal. She's my grandmother," Jesse explained.

"What? Holy fuck, I can't take much more of this. My head is going to explode." Shalimar leaned back into her chair. "Your grandmother? Your grandmother tried to kill us?"

"I don't think she was trying to kill us."

"So those balls of energy were for what? Massage therapy?"

"Shal – drop it. I need to focus on Brennan." Jesse turned back to Emma. "Please, Emma. I need you. It'll take hours for Adam to get here – and then whatever time it takes to examine you and try to find a cure. It took weeks to come up with the right medication the last time this happened. If Brennan is hurt, he might not even have a few hours."

Emma nodded, and closed her eyes, her fingers still rubbing her temples. A moment later she cried out.

"I'm sorry, Jess. I can't."

"I can't wait. Maybe I can fix you."

"Fix her! Fix what? What do you know about genetics, Jesse?" Shalimar demanded.

"More than most genetic scientists, Shal. I've worked with Adam for years."

"That doesn't mean you're qualified to do this. And if you can, why don't you take Emma to the lab and do it normally?"

"Because that would take weeks, even for Adam. And I know that Adam is better at genetics than I am, at least in the traditional way. But think about my powers, Shal. I affect matter, down to the smallest particles, particles that make up DNA. We don't have weeks. We need to find Brennan now."

Emma groaned, their arguing just increasing her pain. "Jesse? Even if you could stop the headaches, I still wouldn't have the range."

"So we'll get you closer. We'll take the Helix and when we get close, you could sense him."

"It's too much of a risk, Jesse. You can't just muck around in her DNA," Shalimar ordered.

"And I can't let Brennan die, if he hasn't already." Jesse voice broke as he said it.

"Do it," Emma whispered.

"What?" both Shalimar and Jesse asked.

"I said 'do it'."

"Absolutely not!" the feral roared.

"Look," Emma said quietly, "if we were in a battle against the GSA, we'd risk our lives for each other without a second thought. This isn't any different. And…" she continued, cutting off Shalimar who opened her mouth to speak, "…I trust Jesse. He's walked us through walls. That's far more invasive than what we're talking about."

"But…"

"No buts, Shal." Emma turned and looked at Jesse. "I trust you, Jesse. Do it."

Jesse took a deep breath, pondering the level of faith Emma had in him and hoped he could live up to it. He stood up and formed a syringe in his hand. She looked at him questioningly. "It's just a mild sedative, just to keep you still. I'll remove it when I'm done. No side effects, I promise."

"None besides him changing your DNA!" Shalimar groused.

Jesse injected Emma, and she slumped in her chair.

"Shal, please – it'll be okay."

Jesse sat down opposite Emma and then closed his eyes so that he could concentrate more easily.

He could hear Shalimar protesting, demanding that he leave Emma alone, but he couldn't. This could help her as well as Brennan.

* * *

Jesse reached out; embracing his new abilities to the fullest extent he could and found a matter field that told him everything he needed to know about the objects around him, like finding the sheet music for the universe. He realized that the matter field had always been the way he had interacted with matter, he had just never noticed it before. When he changed matter, he played the music differently, so to speak.

The matter around him vibrated softly around him, a low hum of harmony of objects in balance – but with two discordant notes. Jesse concentrated on the larger cacophony, and recognized the structure as Emma. The strands of her hair, the softness of her skin, the weight of her muscles – on the surface they appeared normal, but the whine of imbalance came from something deeper. The other note must be Shal, but right now, he need to concentrate on Emma.

He looked deeper and as he suspected, her DNA trembled, its vibration wrong and glaring – screeching out into the rest of her body and causing pain.

_This has happened before._

Jesse remembered the retro-viruses that Adam had injected them with previously attempting to slow their genetic mutation. Adam had hoped to find a splice of genetic material that would stabilize them, but without success so far.

Jesse focused on the DNA in a single cell, feeling along its length for gaps or areas that felt unstable. He combed through the various chromosomes, noting the harmony of each one. He quickly discarded those that felt stable, and isolated the source of the trembling structure - a single chromosome.

He felt along the double helix and realized the problem. The hydrogen bonds holding the nucleotides together were weakening, and some bonds had failed altogether.

Without treatment, Emma would die. It was just a matter of time.

Jesse repaired the first bond only to find it immediately broke again. He repaired it a second time and watched it closely for the stress pulling it apart as it snapped, and realized it came from another nucleotide segment – essentially another gene. Frowning, Jesse realized that the gene had only recently become active.

Emma's mutation had caused this one gene to turn on, but also tear apart other pieces of her genetic code.

Jesse examined the gene more closely, and found that unlike most of the code around it, it had the normal hum of every day matter - stable matter. Like tracing the individual threads of a spider's web, Jesse mapped out the areas of stability and instability until he found it – the keystone, the piece that should hold it all together.

_This is what Adam has been looking for all these years._

The keystone, or in this case, a single base-pair had the wrong structure. At that spot on the strand, it should have been an Adenine-Thymine pair, and instead it was a Cytosine-Guanine pair. When Adam had written the RNA and fused it with their DNA, rewriting their own codes, he had made a mistake.

In software, you'd call it a bug. In DNA, you'd call it a death sentence.

As the stress from that flaw and moved along the strand, some previously dormant genes had been activated, and others went dormant. Jesse realized that the newly active ones explained her growing powers, and the dormant ones… god only knew what would happen from that long term.

Jesse switched the pair, CG to AT, and the strand seemed to shudder, and then bonds began snapping back together, like an unraveled rope suddenly re-braiding itself. Jesse watched as the dormant genes turned back on, as well as a few other genes burst to life.

Within moments the strand snapped together, finally whole and unstressed. Jesse noted that the discordant note in the matter field had disappeared – at least for that cell.

Now knowing the problem, he worked at a larger level, willing the change to occur in all of Emma's cells, as easy as creating a wall out of thin air. He didn't need to concentrate now that he knew the music.

Finished, he dissolved the sedative and then opened his eyes.

* * *

Shalimar stroked Emma's hair and she began to stir. "You better hope she's okay," she said to Jesse.

"Actually, Shal, I think she'll be better than ever." At Shal's questioning look, he continued. "I found what Adam has been searching for. I've stabilized her mutation. She won't go through this again."

"Are you sure?" Shalimar asked skeptically. "How do you know?"

"I can just feel it, Shal. Just trust me. She's gonna be fine."

Emma opened her eyes just then and blinked a few times. Shal stroked her hair again. "You okay?"

Emma that about it for a moment, and then smiled. "No more headache."

"Told you so, Shal," Jesse beamed.

"Hey, my headache may be gone, but it doesn't mean I want you two to start arguing again."

Jesse smiled. "Do you think you can try to find Brennan? Just see if you can feel him?" Jesse pleaded.

"Something happened, didn't it? I can feel your excitement. Mind if I catch up?"

Jesse nodded and felt the incident replayed in his head at warp speed for Emma's benefit as she absorbed it.

"Stable? Really?" she asked.

Jesse nodded.

"Can you do this for Brennan? Shal? All the mutants?"

"Maybe. I'll certainly try."

Emma stood up easily. "Then let's see what I can do." She closed her eyes and extended her senses, and how quickly they responded surprised her. She sent them flying forward and realized she had already gone beyond her normal range. She opened her eyes to give them an update and Shalimar gasped.

"What?"

"Your eyes. They're glowing."

Emma glanced over at the mirror and saw that her eyes shimmered with white light. Somehow, it felt right, and she extended her power further, and saw the white light begin to seep from her skin. Meanwhile, her mind covered dozens of square miles.

"Jess, my range has definitely increased – I'm not sure how much yet. I'm still going – but let's get to the Helix. If Brennan is still alive, I can find him."

* * *

03/06/2006

**More Author's Notes: **

**Genetic engineering is pretty much a mystery to me. I have no idea if what I wrote makes any sense… just go with it... "suspension of disbelief" and all that.**

**Also, sorry, this chapter is pretty heavy-handed. The concept of Jesse fixing their mutations was supposed to develop gradually, but considering I'm muse-less, I'm just trying to hang onto the plotline right now.**

**Feedback is appreciated - maybe you'll help me find my story muse again.  
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	17. Chapter 17

**For disclaimers, please see Chapter 1.**

**Author's Notes:**

**I've received a question (from Feral's Revenge) on whether or not I know where I'm going with this story because it seems so random. In actuality, there is a plan. My hope was to provide some apparently random details and events that I would tie back later in the story and make you say "Oh! So that's why…". Because I've been museless, I've been condensing chapters and I think it's making the story line just fall flat and appear totally random.**

**While I've never seen any episodes of the show _Lost_, I remember lots of people asking "What the hell is a polar bear doing on the tropical island?" or something to that effect. Not sure if _Lost_ ever answered that question, but I'll try pull as many things back together here as I can.**

**If there's a nagging detail you want me to wrap up, please leave me feedback and let me know. For example, some people may want to know why Brennan had all those mirrors in his bathroom, or why Jesse went through the series of exercises with the penny…**

**Feral – I can't answer most of your questions because I don't want to ruin the plot. However, I will answer this question – "And I thought Cynthia was young. Is she old?" I never specifically said she was young or old, but I did mention a couple of times the wrinkles on her face and I tried to write her with a grandmotherly tone, referring to Jesse as a "boy" and using "dear" when she spoke to someone. I didn't want it to be to overt though – otherwise you might have identified her as Jesse's grandmother too soon.**

**Anyway, onto the story…**

* * *

The Helix sped towards the mountains with Jesse at the controls.

Jesse looked back over his shoulder at Emma who sat with her eyes closed. "Anything?"

"Not yet," she replied.

Shal reached over from the co-pilot seat and touched Jesse's hand. "She'll tell you as soon as she finds him, Jess, you know that."

"I know, but I can't help it."

"So let's distract you for a few minutes so that Em can concentrate, okay? Tell me about what happened back there."

"Shal, Brennan's the only thought in my head."

"Come on, tell me what happened with Emma. What did you do?" Shal twisted her chair to face him and reach over and hit a couple of buttons, activating the auto pilot.

"No, I need to …"

"Need to what? Fly a straight course to the mountains? The auto-pilot can handle that. Now talk to me."

Sighing, Jesse dropped his hands from the controls and turned his chair to face her. "Honestly, I'm not sure. It was different than before – but lately everything is different than before."

Shalimar smiled. "Yeah, things are pretty fucked up right now. But I don't understand what you did, or how you did it."

Jesse shrugged. "Well, I wanted Emma to be better so she should find Brennan. I figured DNA is just matter, and I could affect it just like making a wall appear or disappear. Well, not disappear, but you know what I mean. I figured that because I just sort of 'want' stuff to happen, it does, that maybe if I wanted Emma's DNA to be stable and for her to be healthy, she would be. But, it was more than that."

"How?" Shal prompted.

"Well, I guess because I wasn't sure of what I wanted to happen, I had to think about it more. When all this first started happening, concentration seemed to block it from happening, I just had to want it. This time, I was just thinking about Emma and trying to get a feel for what I wanted to do when all of a sudden I seemed to understand all the matter around me. I could see it somehow." Jesse paused for a minute thoughtfully. "Okay – you know how when you your eyes go all yellow and your feral abilities are in full swing? It was like that. You can always see and smell better than us, but when you are in feral mode, your senses are 20 times stronger or whatever, right?"

Shalimar nodded.

"It was kind of like that – like opening my eyes for the first time, but it wasn't my eyes – it was some other sense. I could feel all the matter around me and understand it, and I could feel that something was wrong in Emma, actually…" Jesse broke off.

"What is it, Jess?"

"I just remembered something. After I first closed my eyes, I could feel the room and I felt two things 'off'. I could tell one of them was Emma, and that's when I focused on her and went deeper. I found out where her genetic code was off and fixed it. But don't you see, Shal? I felt two things that needed fixing – Emma was one, you must have been the other."

Shalimar sat back in her chair. "Are you saying what I think you're saying?"

Jesse leaned forward towards her. "I'm saying maybe I can help you, too, Shal. I know you are afraid of what will eventually happen to you – we all are. But I'm positive Emma's stable, Shal. Maybe I can make your DNA stable, too."

Shal smiled hesitantly. "How about we take this one step at a time, okay?"

Jesse's face lit up. "Oh god! I can do the same for Brennan!"

* * *

Minutes later, Emma opened her eyes. "Jesse?"

Jesse turned to look at her.

"I found him, but he's really weak. I can barely hold on to him."

Jesse's face rippled with excitement and worry. "Where?"

Emma unlatched her safety straps and stepped forward, looking out the window. She raised her arm and pointed. "He's just over that far ridge in the distance."

Jesse grabbed the controls, switching off auto-pilot, and steered them off to the left, where Emma had pointed. The trees streaked beneath them and Jesse caught glimpses now and then of cop cars and black SUV's driving along the sparse roads, sometimes parked.

Shal noticed them as well. "This could get tricky."

"We're cloaked. And nothing is keeping me from Brennan," Jesse vowed.

* * *

Jesse set the Helix down in a meadow only a mile or so from Brennan, at least according to Emma. He couldn't find a closer spot where the terrain would allow a landing. He unbuckled himself and made for the exit when Emma gasped.

Jesse and Shalimar both spun in alarm. "What is it?"

"I lost him. He's gone. Oh god, I'm sorry, Jess."

"He's not gone!" Jesse yelled angrily. "We're going to find him." Jesse pressed the latch to open the Helix's rear door and then stepped out.

Shalimar locked her eyes with Emma, a question and answer exchanged wordlessly. Brennan may be gone, but Jess needed them now, and they'd help him get through this any way they could. Shalimar blinked her tears back and then followed Jesse, Emma only a step behind.

* * *

After about 20 minutes of tearing through underbrush and scrambling over large rocks and fallen trees, Jesse demanded of Emma "Where?"

"I don't know, Jess. I can't feel him at all. This is the general area he was in."

"Shal? Can you sense anything?"

Shalimar sniffed at the air and cocked her head, her eyes flashing yellow. Her head tilted to a different direction and she sniffed again. Another tilt, another sniff. She growled faintly in frustration. Jesse would have sworn he saw her nose twitch right before she put her hands to her face and screamed.

Emma and Jesse rushed to her side and pulled her hands from her face to assess what had happened. Both took a step back after doing so.

While still groaning from pain, Shalimar saw them staring at her. "What?" she mumbled.

"Um, your face. Actually, your nose…" Emma started.

"And your ears," Jesse finished.

Shalimar raised her hands to her face again and felt a stubby and slightly damp nose. She moved her hands to her ears and felt long tufts of skin shooting out, gently furred. "Oh god. Not again."

"Shal, I know you're in pain, and I know you are gonna freak as soon as you see yourself in a mirror – but I need to find Brennan. Can you smell him? Or hear him?"

Shal furrowed her brows in effort and tried to sniff, but a wave a pain showered over her. "Can't. Hurts too much."

"What we talked about on the plane, Shal. Can I try?"

Shalimar groaned again. "Emma? You sure you're okay? He didn't mess you up or anything? You don't have a third boob or anything, right?"

Emma smiled. "Coming from 'Miss Peek-A-Boo Nipples' as Jesse says, I'm surprised a third boob would worry you. But no – I'm fine."

Shalimar snarled at the peek-a-boo nipple comment and then said "Do it."

Jesse shut his eyes and reached out for the matter field, tapping into it quickly. He focused on Shal and immediately felt the imbalance. Quickly isolating a single cell, he delved down into her DNA and slid along her chromosome strands. She had a similar breakdown of bonds in her dna pairs, and again, he managed to isolate it back to a single pair of amino acids. Having identified the proper fix, he cascaded the changes throughout her body, and then opened his eyes.

Shal still had a cat nose and cat ears, but she no longer groaned in pain. "Done? Was that it?"

"Yup – now, try to sense Brennan."

Shalimar shrugged and began to tilt her head, when her whole body suddenly shrank and twisted, growing fur.

In mere seconds, a common housecat, a very confused common housecat, made its way out from a pile of clothing and sat in front of them, meowing and twisting its head to look at itself.

Emma looked at Jesse, who had wide eyes. "What did you do?" she asked.

The kitty started expanding and suddenly Shalimar, fully human, and nude, stood in front of them. "What the fuck was that?" she demanded.

"Don't look at me," Jesse deflected. "That's apparently what's been inside you all along."

"A fucking housecat? Why not a fucking panther or something? A lion? A cougar? Why a housecat?"

"Shal!" Jesse yelled. "I need to find Brennan. Can you figure this out later?"

"Fine," she turned to sniff again, her eyes flashing yellow. "Nothing."

"Use your full ability," Emma encouraged. "It'll be okay."

Shalimar sighed, and closed her eyes and mumbled under her breath something about leopards and pumas. She began to shrink again, turning furry, but not as small this time.

Instead of a housecat's meow, this time she greeted them with a mountain lion's snarl. She turned and looked at herself, and then licked along one of her front legs, rubbing it across her face.

Emma laughed, despite the current circumstances. "I think she approves of this version."

"Find him, Shal. Find him," Jesse urged.

The mountain lion's ears swiveled in different directions while she scented the air. With another snarl, Shal charged into the trees.

Jesse ran after her, and Emma did the same, after scooping up Shalimar's clothing.

Moments later, they stood next to a small landslide, where Shalimar pawed at the rocks.

"No!" Jesse yelled.

Emma sensed that Jesse planned on dematerializing rocks and she shouted "_No!"_ into his mind, distracting him.

"Why not?"

"We've got to do this carefully, Jesse. You don't know what will happen when you start moving rocks. If he wasn't crushed, you don't want to crush him now, okay?" Emma turned from him and looked at the top of the pile, still up the hill, and it floated up into the air and then flew off to the side, landing far away from the other rocks. She focused on another, and it joined the first.

Jesse mimicked her, just far more quickly. He dematerialized one rock at a time, but at the speed of thought. Grabbing onto the matter field, he realized that Emma had been right – the pile of rocks resembled a house of cards, and the wrong move could have made things much worse – unless he could have moved the entire pile at once, which now that he had the matter field guiding him, he could do. Especially after what he had just seen in the field.

"Em? Stop."

Emma had nearly finished moving a large rock, so she finished that and looked at Jesse expectantly. Shalimar changed back to human form, taking her clothes from Emma and slipping them on quickly.

Jesse paid no attention to them, keeping his focus on the field, and suddenly all the rocks had vanished, along with all the dirt that had lodged itself between them.

Only Brennan remained.

Jesse cried out and the girls gasped.

Both of his legs were twisted and broken, bone jutting out from one of them. His right arm hung from only a strip of bicep muscle, the sheared from his body. Blood poured freely, not only from his arm, but from other cuts and scrapes as well. What little of his body that had not been abraded by the rocks showed scorch marks, and occasional arcs of electricity trailed across his still body.

Jesse darted to his side, denial on his lips as he chanted "No! No! No!" He placed his hands on Brennan's skin, trying to avoid any scorched flesh, and pleaded with him. "Don't leave me, Brennan! You can't leave me!"

Dogs barked in the distance and Shalimar stiffened. Her eyes flashed as she listened. "Men with dogs are coming. Probably a mile or so away. Coming from the opposite direction we came."

Emma crouched down next to Jesse and put her hand on his shoulder. "Jess?" she encouraged. "We don't have a lot of time."

"I'm not leaving him!"

Emma shook her head. "That's not what I meant. Brennan doesn't have much time."

It took a moment before the words sunk in. "He's alive?"

"He's still bleeding, Jess. He's just so weak that I can barely feel his mind, even standing right next to him. You have to help him."

"What can I do?" Jesse cried. "I'm not a doctor!"

Shalimar caught on to what Emma meant. She knelt on the other side of Brennan. "Jess, don't you see?" She put her hand above Brennan's broken and bleeding arm. "This is just matter. Flesh, bone, skin, blood, everything... we don't need a doctor. A doctor couldn't fix this, but you can."

Jesse's eyes widened and hope shown out from them. He reached over and picked up Brennan's arm and gently moved it back into position, and Emma and Shal watched as bone and muscle, vein and skin, all knitted back together.

"That's it, Jesse. Stop the bleeding first," Shal encouraged.

With mere glances, deep cuts closed and abrasions vanished. Jesse straightened Brennan's legs, and bone disappeared beneath pink skin. Scorch marks brightened from black to grey and then pink. Jesse frowned as another electrical arc burnt freshly healed skin, so he sunk down to the DNA level and stabilized Brennan's DNA – two bad amino acids this time, on different strands.

Jesse healed the last of Brennan's injuries, and then realized that he should add blood to his veins, considering the vast amount he had spilled.

"He's getting stronger, Jess. I can feel his mind kicking back in!" Emma said excitedly.

Brennan coughed - a rough, gravelly cough, and then took in several painful sounding breaths.

Jesse checked out his lungs in the matter field and saw the foreign matter – dust and dirt Brennan had inhaled. The offending objects quickly dissolved, and Brennan's breathing eased.

Jesse whispered to him. "Brennan? Wake up for me. Please, it's Jesse."

Brennan's eyes fluttered open, and his pupils shrank as light hit them. "Jess?"

Tears ran down Jesse's face – tears he had fiercely held back in order to heal Brennan. "Yeah, it's me," he said with a sob.

Brennan stared into his eyes and reached his hand up to Jesse's face, cupping his cheek. "Hey, why are you crying?"

Jesse sniffled and sobbed again.

"Shhh, baby, come here." He pulled Jesse down into his arms and held him close. "It's okay, baby, I'm here. I'm here."

* * *

3/12/06 


	18. Chapter 18

**For disclaimers, please see Chapter 1.**

00000

"_Shhh, baby, come here." He pulled Jesse down into his arms and held him close. "It's okay, baby, I'm here. I'm here."_

Jesse buried himself in Brennan's arms, his face pressed against the taller man's neck. "Almost lost you. So close."

"Shhh. It's alright. Everything's alright."

Jesse held him tighter, letting loose his worry in soft cries.

Shalimar let go of the breath she hadn't realized she held. A quick glance at Emma showed her doing the same.

Brennan heard the twin sighs and looked up to meet their eyes, a tired smile on his face.

"Brennan – " Shal started.

Brennan shook his head. "Not yet," he whispered. He continued to hold Jesse, stroking his back gently.

Emma pulled Shalimar away from them, giving them a few moments alone. "Shal, we need to figure out what we're going to do. Those men with the dogs will be here soon."

Shalimar wrinkled her nose at the mention of dogs. "What's the big deal, Em? A few men and dogs aren't anything to us. We can take them out easily enough."

"I'm sure we could, Shal. But there are two problems with that. First – you and I just had our DNA rearranged and got a major power boost? Are you willing to take a swipe an innocent man and accidentally take his head off because you don't know your own strength yet?" Emma saw comprehension set in to Shalimar's eyes. "Who knows – right now a sleep suggestion that I send to them may put them to sleep permanently. We have to be careful."

Shalimar nodded, but nodded in Jesse's direction. "Still though – Jesse can take care of them. His powers seem limitless."

"That's part of problem number two, actually. These guys aren't Genomex – they're normals. If we use powers on them at all, they're going talk about it. And with everyone on high alert because of the supposed bombing, news stories about 'super-powered freaks' isn't going to help – it will make things worse. I think we just need to get out of here, before we make the situation worse."

00000

Jesse tentatively raised his head from the crook of Brennan's neck, almost as if afraid he'd vanish at any moment. When Brennan didn't, Jesse took a deep breath and looked into the dark eyes of the man he loved.

The man who'd left him days ago because he couldn't handle being with him. Brennan didn't love him. Jesse's heart stopped, and his breathing hitched.

Brennan saw the fear blossom in Jesse's eyes before the younger man quickly lowered his eyes and ducked his head. Brennan could guess the reason. Now that the initial shock of finding him had worn off, Jesse had remembered that Brennan had ditched him. Brennan had to act quickly to repair the damage he had done.

He raised his hands to Jesse's face, cupping his cheeks, and raised his head so that once again he could see the younger man's face, though Jesse's eyes remained lowered. "Jess, look at me."

Jesse couldn't risk it – couldn't risk the pain of rejection again. He closed his eyes.

"Please look at me." After waiting a moment and seeing Jess continue to block him out, Brennan charged forward, full steam.

He raised his own head and gently brought his lips to Jesse's, touching them softly for a moment before whispering against them, "I love you."

00000

"Have they had enough time yet?" Shalimar asked, having caught Emma's worry.

Emma's creased forehead smoothed and a broad smile stole out on her face. "Almost, Shal," she said, pulling the feral into a hug, caught up in the emotions she felt.

Shal, ever the fickle cat, quickly worked her way out of Emma's arms. She could be as touchy feely as the next girl, but always on her own terms. She'd pick those moments, thank you very much. "What was that for?"

Emma continued smiling and said "Them," flicking her eyes in the direction of the boys. "Feel this." Emma redirected what she felt, sharing it with the feral.

Immediately Shal's eyes filled with tears, and she pulled the empath into a hug. "Oh god," she sniffed. "There's so much joy, so much happiness. They love each other so much." Shal reached up and wiped tears from her eyes. "Why am I crying?"

Emma wiped her own eyes and smiled. "'Cause we're silly girls. Love does that to us."

Shalimar giggled and had to agree.

00000

Jesse's eyes flashed open. "What?"

"I love you," Brennan repeated.

"You love me?"

"Yes."

"Really? But…"

"Yes, you big moron, I love you. We'll talk about it later, but for now - shut up and kiss me."

Jesse's eyes filled with wonder, and he kissed Brennan shyly at first, and then with growing confidence. His heart soared, but confusion set in when Brennan pushed him back.

"What?" he asked in confusion.

"Need oxygen every once in a while, you know," Brennan said with a smile, breathless from the depth of Jesse's kiss. "You're still a helluva kisser."

Jesse beamed, and then glanced over his shoulder when he heard Shalimar giggle, seeing both girls with wet cheeks. "What's with them?"

Brennan looked over and then rolled his eyes. "Just ignore them. It's a girl thing. They get all sappy about love."

Jesse grinned. "And guys aren't?"

"Oh, we are," Brennan grinned back. "But we show it differently."

"And how's that?"

Brennan leaved forward and whispered into Jesse's ear just how many ways he would show him that he loved him.

Jesse's face reddened and his groin throbbed. "You better stop," he breathed huskily. "I won't be able to stand up for a few minutes as it is." He gasped as Brennan's teeth teased his earlobe.

"Okay… for now," Brennan replied, setting Jesse's ear free. "But later… I need you."

Jesse nearly came in his pants.

00000

Shalimar walked over to the two prone men and clapped her hands. "Okay, you two, break it up. Party's over. Time to get up and move out."

Jesse blanched. "Ummm, I need a few minutes."

Shalimar smirked at his discomfort. "Have a little bit of a problem, do we?" She laughed at Jesse's eye roll. "No worries, it's nothing I haven't seen before. Recently, in fact. That was quite the scene back at the dojo."

Jesse wondered about the possibilities of death by embarrassment.

Emma broke in. "Guys, we really need to go. The men are getting very close."

"I can handle them," Jesse said with assurance. "No problem."

Emma let out a small groan. _Why is it they all think that kicking a little ass solves everything?_ "We don't have time for this," she said aloud.

Jesse and Brennan both jerked back at the sudden intrusion in their minds as Emma quickly broadcast the situation and her thoughts on it. They both shook their heads and rubbed their temples when she had finished.

"Ow, Em. A little slower next time."

"Sorry," Emma said, sheepishly. "I forgot. But that just proves my first point – I shouldn't try to mess with their minds."

"So we run?" Brennan asked, rising slowly into a sitting position, a wince escaping as he did so.

"You okay?" Jesse asked anxiously. "Is there something wrong? Did I miss something?"

"Nope, I'm fine. Just a little stiff and sore. It's nothing to be worried about," he reassured, "though the running part may be a little beyond me right now."

Jesse stood, not even realizing that his concern for Brennan's well-being had solved his other problem, and helped Brennan to his feet. "Let's get going."

Brennan took a step forward and stumbled, but Jesse caught him easily. "Okay, this isn't going to work."

"Maybe you could just… move… him there, Jess," Shalimar offered helpfully.

"No, I'll walk," Brennan broke in, a bit forcefully.

"What do you mean, Shal?"

"Well, you make walls disappear and then reappear…"

"No, forget about it," Brennan said again, forcefully.

"Maybe she's right, Bren. If I just…."

Brennan grabbed Jesse's shoulders and twisted him so that he stared directly into his eyes. "Jesse – promise me you will never do that, to anyone."

"Why, Brennan? We're all just matter, and…"

"Promise me. Right now. Promise me."

Emma and Shalimar looked uneasily at each other, not understanding what had Brennan so concerned.

"Okay, Brennan, if it means that much to you."

"It does."

"Now promise," Brennan demanded.

"I already said I wouldn't."

"No, you said 'okay'. I want to hear you say it."

The worry Jesse had started to feel a moment ago when Brennan started this grew increasingly stronger. "I promise you I will never to dematerialize anyone." An itch demanded scratching in the back of his brain, and he frowned.

Brennan recognized the action. "Thank you and now stop thinking about it. We'll talk about it later, I promise."

Jesse nodded, but he still worried at the itch, trying to remember.

"Stop it, Jesse. I love you and everything will be okay, just trust me." He leaned forward and kissed Jesse softly on the lips. "Okay?"

"Okay."

"Now, we need to figure out how we're going to get out of here."

"More than that, we need a way to end this whole man-hunt and the news stories."

"Yeah, ummm, sorry about that." Brennan had received a glimpse of the controversy when Emma had 'caught them up'. The idea of national media, the president, and every local redneck trying to find 'those responsible for this act of terrorism' made him cringe. "I guess taking off to deal with this on my own wasn't one of my better ideas."

Jesse snorted. "No shit, Sherlock."

Brennan smiled back at him evilly. "When I'm feeling stronger, you'll pay for that."

"Think you'll be up to it?" Jesse countered.

"Oh, I'll be up for it alright."

Shalimar saw the verbal fuck-fest starting and squashed it. "Sexual innuendos later, boys. Exit plan now."

"We need Adam," Emma said. "He'd know how to diffuse this whole thing."

"I still don't think I'm ready to trust him, but let's call him," Jesse suggested.

"Call him? How?"

Jesse held up his ring communicator and tapped it with his opposing hand. "Sanctuary?" he queried.

"Yes, Jesse," a modulated voice responded.

"You made Sanctuary voice activated," Shal marveled.

Jesse nodded. "Sanctuary," he continued, "reactivate Adam's ring, but for communication with us only. No other access."

Shalimar looked at her own ring. "We can do more than talk with each other with these things?"

"Confirmed," the modulated voice replied. "Ring activated."

"Adam?" he said to his ring.

"Jesse?" Adam responded back a moment later, a touch of anger in his voice. "Where are you? What's going on? Why isn't anyone answering? Why can't I get into Sanctuary?"

"Because I locked you out, Adam, for our safety."

"But you asked me to come back!" Adam retorted.

"There's been a change of plans. Are you outside of Sanctuary now?"

"Yes."

"Well, we had to take a trip. You saw the news?"

"Of course. Was that Brennan? Is he okay?"

"Yes, but we need your help. We're trying to get back to the Helix, but Brennan was injured. He's okay, but we'll be moving slowly. We need to get some men and dogs off our tracks without making the situation worse."

"I understand," Adam said thoughtfully. "The world is looking for terrorists, and if they find terrorists with super powers, Genomex will look like a bunch of candy stripers."

"Exactly."

Jesse looked at his three friends while waiting for Adam to come up with a solution, and saw both worry and relief on their faces. Adam would find a solution.

"Jesse?" Adam asked.

"Yes, Adam."

"I know you are not sure about me right now, but I need to know about your powers. What are you able to do?"

Jesse paused, still hesitant to say anything to Adam about his powers, though he had already demonstrated them somewhat to Adam back at Sanctuary. _In for a penny, in for a pound, I suppose. _"I can control matter. I can create it as well as remove it."

"And your memories?" Adam asked with more than a little reservation in his voice.

"Coming back slowly."

"Yeah, I guess we'll have to talk about that, but first, let's get you out of there."

"So what's your plan?"

"They want a terrorist to blame, right? We give them one."

"What? We're not leaving anyone behind to take the wrap," Brennan said angrily.

"No. Jesse creates a terrorist for them."

Brennan's eyes widened. "No, Adam. Absolutely not."

"Not a living one, Brennan. A body for them to find and blame."

Emma didn't even know if Jesse could create a living person – all the memories, personality – the soul… all the things beyond matter. But she had assumed that Brennan had been in opposition to creating someone who would likely suffer in their place. She still felt the waves of panic coming off him though, and she didn't know why.

"No, Adam. It's not worth the risk."

Jesse felt that itch again in his brain.

"I don't see any other choice, Brennan. Don't make the situation worse than it is."

Shalimar cocked her head. "They're close. I can hear them talking."

Jesse strained to hear anything in the resulting silence, and then heard the faint barking of a dog. "Lower your voices to a whisper," he ordered.

"Adam?" Emma asked in a low voice.

"Yes, Emma."

"I can see how that might give them something to deal with, someone to blame – but won't that just escalate the problem? If we give them an Al Qaeda, won't we be risking war?"

"Who said anything about an Al Qaeda?"

"You said a terrorist."

"Yes, I did… but what if that 'terrorist' was a member of the US Military?" Adam waited for the thought to sink in.

"They wouldn't want to admit that the military had been compromised," Emma mused after a moment.

"Exactly. Instant cover-up. I'm sure something like a 'weather balloon' will be blamed."

"Wow. That's twisted," Jesse said.

"I still don't like it," Brennan said testily. "Jesse shouldn't…"

"Shhh," Shalimar cautioned, at Brennan's rising voice. "They're really close."

"It'll be okay, Brennan. I can do this."

"Jesse, you'll also need to make a device for them to find. Preferably something that looks like government issue…and used."

Jesse thought about how when he had shielded Sanctuary's core from EMP, he had done a little research on the devices that could cause it. "No problem."

Jesse tapped his ring, turning it off, when he heard the barking of the dogs grow louder. He motioned everyone behind an outcropping of large rocks, and Emma and Shalimar helped Brennan hobble behind it.

Looking at the spot Brennan had occupied not long ago, Jesse reached out to the matter field and began constructing a body. He knew it would have to stand up to autopsies, so it has to be perfect. He fashioned the image of Brennan's broken body in his mind, and stifled the instant panic the picture caused, but used it as model to build broken bones and torn skin. The body grew, bones, whether broken or whole, knitting into place, muscle weaving around them, skin stretching to cover all but the wounds.

Jesse made the man a blond, with blue eyes – reinforcing the desired effect of an all-American boy. He gave him a short buzz cut, common to the military, as well as a few old scars one might have from old football injuries. Jesse faltered when it came to the fingertips. He couldn't create an identity to back them up, and then it dawned on him that if the fingertips had been burned or sanded off, it would help complete the image of a soldier gone rogue. He dressed the body in fatigues, and added combat boots. A side arm completed the picture… that and a generous splashing of blood.

Jesse formed the pieces of an exploded EMP device next, one that had ostensibly overloaded and exploded. He scattered the pieces and then restored part of the rubble he had earlier cleared, but left enough of the body exposed that the dogs would be sure to find it.

Jesse then remembered that dogs would be attracted to smell, and he'd have to make the body smell. He concentrated on body odor, and then added things like remnants of cologne and deodorant. He also realized that the body should probably smell pretty bad, being dead an all, and added a touch of decomposition to the body, mostly around the wounds, aging them as if they'd been there for many hours instead of just minutes.

Jesse opened his eyes and winced at the sight. He'd done a good job – and it made him want to vomit.

He ducked behind the rocks himself, and then materialized more rocks to hide them. He just hoped the dogs wouldn't pick up their scent as well as the body's.

00000000

4/30/06


	19. Chapter 19

**For disclaimers, please see Chapter 1.**

00000

_He ducked behind the rocks himself, and then materialized more rocks to hide them. He just hoped the dogs wouldn't pick up their scent as well as the body's._

"Sandy's got the scent again, alright."

Jack scrambled over the trunk of a fallen tree, trying to keep up with his own dog, let alone Bob and Sandy. Gunner pulled at his lead, desperate to keep up with the shepherd. "Gunner's just following Sand on this, Jack. You know what that means."

Bob looked back over his shoulder briefly at his fellow officer and said "She's got a body," and then turned his attention back to his dog and the forest floor beneath his feet.

Gunner had just come out of basic training and hadn't learned the more advanced techniques for which older search and rescue dogs might receive additional training. Two years older than Gunner, Sandy had received specialized training on finding cadavers. Sandy had taken to the training like a duck to water, as one of the best teams out there, Bob and Sandy had flown into many nasty situations, from major disasters to murder scenes.

New to the canine unit himself, Jack had picked up Gunner and gone through training with him at the same time. They had graduated the training program only last week. Though they didn't have the training to be out doing this type of work, when the call had come in requesting all units, they didn't have much choice.

Sandy had lost the scent at one point, milling around and sniffing the air trying to recapture it. Then, only minutes ago, she caught it again and took off like a shot, dragging Bob behind her. Gunner picked up on her excitement and tore after her, Jack in tow.

"I really hope it's not a body," Jack whispered to Gunner, his words lost under the barking of both dogs.

00000

Jesse heard the barking volume increase, and knew the dogs would arrive any second. He quickly scanned the rocks and sealed up a few cracks, trying to further dampen their scent. He left the top of the rocks open for fresh air, not knowing how long they would have to wait this out.

Brennan sat on the ground, leaning up against a rock. Shalimar and Emma sat on either side of him, Emma rubbing warmth into Brennan's arms. He pushed her hands away weakly. "I'm fine," he whispered.

"You're freezing," Emma whispered back.

Jesse hushed both of them, but formed a blanket to drape across the three of them. With sunset approaching, the temperature had already started to drop. Emma eyed him with gratitude and then stifled a gasp as a cushion suddenly arose from the ground beneath them, lifting them up. The rock behind them morphed as well, suddenly soft and much more comfortable. Brennan smiled and settled back.

Happy with the change, Jesse added one more touch – a steaming cup of coffee for each of them to help keep the cold at bay, and then he settled in next to them. They might be trapped, but at least they had the comforts of home.

00000

The dogs bounded into the clearing and Sandy immediately indicated the body by lying down directly in front of it, even her head down on the ground, her nose pointing to the body.

"Good girl, Sandy," Bob praised, spying a leg sticking out from under some rocks. He reached down and rubbed her head softly.

He reached to his belt and grabbed his radio and his GPS, just as Jack and Gunner entered the clearing. He reported back to the command center, informing them of the body and their coordinates.

Gunner bounded around the clearing, barking furiously, pulling at his lead. "Gunner! Sit!" Gunner immediately sat down, but a whine escaped his throat.

Jack ignored him and stared at the body instead. "Shouldn't we, you know, do something?"

Bob shook his head. "Nope, we let the investigators handle that. The chopper will be here shortly. Trust me, with the Feds in on this one, you don't want to touch a damn thing."

"Why's that?"

Bob kneeled down next to Sandy and scratched her back. "Let's say you touch something, doesn't affect anything. But the Feds arrive on scene and do their investigation. They can't solve it, or the case goes bad – who's it all come down on? The guy who 'contaminated' the crime scene."

Jack took a few involuntary steps back from the body, bumping into Gunner. Gunner jumped and seeing his chance at freedom, charged towards the rocks. He had just enough slack lead to reach them and scratch at the rocks and howl, before thrusting out his tail behind him and sticking his nose forward, straight at the rocks.

Jack frowned. "What the hell? Why are you indicating?" He moved over to the rocks and looked around.

"Hey Bob?"

"Yeah?"

"Do you smell coffee?"

00000

Panicking, Jesse vanished the coffee mugs. _How could I have been that stupid?_, he berated himself.

00000

"Coffee?"

"Yeah, I smell…" Jack broke off and then turned his face in different directions, trying to scent the air himself. "Strange – now it's gone."

"Must be your caffeine addiction kicking in," Bob jested.

Jack looked at Gunner, standing absolutely still, never having stopped indicating the rocks. Jack scrutinized the rock face, wondering what could have trigger Gunner.

"Gunner's got something," he called over to Bob. "I'm gonna look around these rocks."

00000

Jesse's heart pounded in his chest. Warning them with the clever waving of his hands, he dissolved the cushions and blanket, just in case. Coming up with a plausible explanation for a plush rock chamber to an officer of the law would prove difficult.

They heard scrambling from outside the rock chamber, in a different position as the officer moved around it.

Jesse raised his hand in the direction of the office, and Brennan grabbed it and mouthed an emphatic "No!"

Jesse had wanted only to strengthen his hastily constructed wall, but suddenly understood that Brennan thought he intended to dematerialize the officer. Once again, something itched in the back of his mind, stronger this time, but he didn't have the time to spare to puzzle it out.

Not able to explain his intentions for fear of alerting the officer, Jesse just nodded. He instead turned to Shalimar and motioned for her to get down on all fours.

Shalimar's look back at him just screamed "Excuse me?

Jesse rolled his eyes and instead stuck his fingers out in the air as if they were claws and scratched the air.

Shalimar's eyes widened as she got his intention and she smiled sheepishly. _It's not my fault I immediately went to a naughty place - after seeing them all into each other. A girl has needs too, you know, _Shal justified to herself.

She pulled off her top, smiling as Brennan tried to stop her, not understanding. _See, I'm not the only one who went to a naughty place. _She turned her back to them as she removed her bra and panties, and Jesse put a hand over Brennan's mouth to stifle his gasp as Shal morphed into a mountain lion.

She quickly scrambled up the rocks on the back wall and jumped through the hole at the top.

00000

"Bob, you think there may be a body up on top of this rock face? Gunner's got something, but I'll be damned if I know what it is."

"Investigators will search the area soon enough – just leave it alone."

"But Gunner doesn't indicate on cadavers. What if it is somebody's who's hurt and needs help?" Jack moved closer to the rock face and raised his hand to grab onto a rock, trying to figure out if it would hold his weight.

The snarl of an angry mountain lion sent him scuttling back in terror.

Sandy and Gunner jumped up and surged forward, barking fiercely.

Shalimar snarled again and threw in a hiss for good measure. With a flick of her tail, she bounded down the far side of the rocks and took off into the forest.

The dogs chased after her, pulling their leads free of their handlers.

"Gunner! Stay!" Jack yelled, dashing off after them.

"Sandy! Come!" Bob called for his own dog, and then ran after all of them, worried that a pissed off mountain lion could make quick work of both dogs.

00000

Jesse breathed a sigh of relief. Shalimar had bought them some time.

"Now what?" Emma asked.

"Don't know – they could be back at any time, and Brennan still can't walk." Jesse appraised Brennan's condition and noting his drooping head, realized that Brennan wouldn't be able to do much of anything. Exhaustion had nearly claimed his conscious thought already.

"Tunnel," Brennan whispered.

"What?"

"Make a tunnel – go under 'em."

Jesse thought about it. He could do it, he realized, with a little help.

"Em, I think that could work. But I need you to help me. I don't know where the Helix is. I don't want to tunnel in the wrong direction."

Emma closed her eyes and stretched out with her increased senses. She found the Helix easily. "That way," she pointed. "A little over a mile down the mountain," she added, before opening her eyes.

Jesse concentrated on the ground beneath them and opened his awareness to the matter field. The ground lowered beneath their feet, dematerializing in thin layers.

Emma looked around and saw the cavern around them seemed to move up slowly, stretching up above them. She flashed back to the Haunted House at Disneyland, thinking of how the walls seemed to stretch as the whole floor, really a big elevator, took them down a level. As they dropped, the fading light from sunset grew even dimmer. Emma launched a psi orb in front of them to provide light.

Jesse dropped them about 30 feet below the ground before they settled to a stop, and then the ground, or rather wall, in front of them opened up and stretched into a dark hole.

Brennan tried to lift himself off the ground, but fell back, too weak to get up. "No worries," Jesse whispered. A wheelchair appeared next to Brennan.

"Fuck, no," Brennan argued, "you aren't going to get me in that. You're not my damn nurse."

Jesse chuckled. "I could make myself a hot nurse outfit if it would help."

Brennan was not amused.

Jesse reached down and grabbed Brennan around the chest, helping him off the ground and into the chair. "You're gonna pay for this, you know?"

"So you keep promising."

Jesse moved behind the chair and pushed him towards the tunnel, noting that Brennan had already fallen asleep. Emma lead the way, lighting the tunnel with her psi orb.

After they had moved into the tunnel, Jesse paused and closed the shaft behind them, restoring it back to the surface.

"What about air, Jesse?"

"I'll make more if we need it." Jesse suddenly smacked his hand against his forehead. "Why didn't I think of that before? I could have totally cocooned us up there – could have been solid rock around us and no smell getting out. I just didn't think and…."

"Jesse, stop it. Just stop it."

Jesse stopped talking.

"Give yourself a break, okay? You just find out you can do just about anything and your beating yourself up because you missed one thing? That you didn't throw out every instinct you have, like needing oxygen – a frickin' airhole, and come up with the perfect solution immediately? How silly is that?"

Jesse nodded, but she could see that he still blamed himself. Emma closed her eyes and concentrated for a moment. "Shal is fine. She's having fun, in fact. And she'll meet us at the Helix soon."

"Okay. I'm okay."

Emma walked over to him and cupped his face gently. "No, you're not okay. You're amazing, truly amazing."

Jesse smiled in response, warmed by her words.

"Now, start acting like it," she challenged with a smirk, and turned and walked further into the tunnel.

"Man, a guy just can't get a break around here," Jesse complained.

00000

Shalimar loped out in front of the dogs, but not letting them get too far behind her. She snarled occasionally, ensuring their interest and hot pursuit. _Stupid dogs!_

She slowed down and decided to have a little fun with them. The dogs charged straight at her, and as they neared, she did an easy leap above them, jumping over the heads and landing behind them. She swatted one, an English pointer by the look of him, on the butt just for fun. She had pulled back her claws, of course.

The dog yelped in surprise and twisted around, his rear legs entangling with his front ones and he went for a spin, taking out the golden retriever next to him as well.

The golden retriever got to her feet first, and barked at Shalimar, baring her teeth in a growl.

_Oh, think you're the big bad bitch, do you girl? You ain't got nothing on me._

The other dog gained his footing and joined in on the growling.

Shalimar backed up, as if she feared them, and then took off running towards a tree, the dogs following her. Shal took a leap up onto the trunk and then somersaulted back over them, once again landing behind them. She swiped the same dog on the ass again.

_I could do this all day._

Shal sped off, the two dogs trailing once again. As she neared a large rock, she jumped up on it and then flipped back, this time each one of her rear paws landing on a dog's head, pushing each one into the dirt.

"Did you see that?" Jack asked, just having burst out of the trees, out of breath.

Shalimar jumped easily out of the tangle of dog limbs and landed atop the rock again. She snarled at the officer and then took off in a run.

"See what?" Bob had just gotten through the trees and saw the two dogs rising on wobbling legs, shaking their heads to clear them.

"That mountain lion? It pulled some weird sort of martial arts move and landed on the dogs. "Strangest thing I've ever seen."

Bob walked over and grabbed the leads for both dogs from the ground, while Jack stood their stupefied. "I'm worried about you, Jack. Maybe this search with finding the body has been too much for you. You're smelling things, seeing things… talking about kung fu kitties…"

Jack rubbed his eyes. He was never going to hear the end of this. He should have just kept his mouth closed.

"Let's get back to that body before the Feds show up. Maybe they'll have some coffee and that'll set you right again."

Jack groaned.

00000

05/06/06


	20. Chapter 20

**For disclaimers, please see Chapter 1.**

**Author's Notes:**

**So... it's been years since I last did anything with this story. I kept thinking "I'll come back to it...someday" Apparently today is finally someday. I am back trying to pick up the threads to see if I can actually reach the end. I no longer have the plot outline I made for the story, so I'm winging it from what I can remember.  
**

**Wish me luck, and keep your expectations low.**

* * *

Shalimar streaked through the trees and brush, desperate to reunite with her team. Her best way to help them now was to get to the Helix and prep for departure.

Running at full speed, she burst into the clearing where she and the others had left the jet and scrambled to a halt, shocked the find the Helix uncloaked. With investigators swarming the area, this could mean detection any minute, if they hadn't already been spotted.

Realizing she'd have to risk further possible discovery, Shalimar darted over to the access panel along the side of the craft. She needed to get inside and get the Helix cloaked immediately. Once in position, she shifted back to her human form and reached out to key in her access code when the panel suddenly disappeared, along with the rest of the jet.

She whipped around, scanning the tree line, wondering what had triggered the change in the Helix. Her eyes flared bright yellow as she used her feral vision to spot the threat. Finding nothing, she turned back around to the Helix, a slight growl escaping her lips upon seeing the Helix was perfectly visible again.

_Is the freakin' cloak shorting out or what? _she wondered.

Reaching out for the panel again, she relaxed her feral vision and was startled when the Helix disappeared again. Shalimar frowned at first, and then her eyes widened slightly, right before switching to their bright yellow coloring. As she had guessed, the Helix appeared again

Tucking away the knowledge that her feral vision was now immune to cloaking, Shalimar punched in the access code, made much simpler now that she could see the damn access panel, and then jumped inside.

* * *

Emma and Jesse, pushing a sleeping Brennan, made their way underground towards Shalimar and the Helix.

"Shal is on-board and is starting up the engine," Emma told Jesse, breaking the silence that had settled over them for several minutes.

Jesse's head shifted minutely, the barest of nods.

"So, are you going to tell me what's happening in that head of yours, or do I have to go look for myself?" Emma chided.

Jesse's eyes flicked to her briefly then away again. "I'm just trying to sort things out, that's all."

Emma knew this wasn't about Brennan, not after the emotions she had felt coming from them when they were reunited. "Are you wondering about Adam?"

Jesse's nod was clearer this time. "There are just so many things I don't understand. Why would he do all of this? Why would my grandmother help him do this to me? It just doesn't make any sense. There's something I'm missing here, and I think Brennan may know some of it. You saw the way he was acting earlier. What was he thinking? Do you know?"

Emma shook her head in response. "I'm sorry, Jess. I can tell you he was frightened, very frightened. But considering how tired and weak he was, I didn't want to take any chances considering I don't really know my own strength at the moment." Despite her talk about her strength, Emma's voice resonated with exhaustion. She hadn't gotten much sleep beforehand, between the crap they'd gone through, the headaches, just everything. "I'm working on keeping all of you out unless I absolutely have to do something."

"I understand, Em. And I owe you everything. I never would have found Bren without your help." Jesse reached down and gently rubbed Brennan's shoulder. "I owe you everything."

Emma smiled. "Well, you saved my life as well. And Shal's. If you hadn't stabilized our genes, we probably would have died. So I think we can call it even." Emma threw her arm around Jesse's shoulders, squeezing gently. "Besides, Superboy needs his sidekick."

"I," Brennan said sleepily, roused from sleep by their conversation, "am NOT a sidekick."

Jesse brightened at Brennan's voice, a smile filling his face as he leaned around the wheelchair to kiss Brennan briefly. "Welcome back."

Emma, never one to be discouraged once she'd found an emotional button, couldn't leave it alone. "Well, you'll need a name, obviously. SuperBoy and.... um..... Oh! I know! Boo Boo Bear!"

Jesse groaned and Brennan sputtered. Emma laughed mercilessly. "Yes," she said, "SuperBoy and Boo Boo Bear will do nicely."

* * *

Minutes later, looking out the front window of the Helix, Shal saw a hole open up in the ground, and then moments later, her teammates rose up from it, like an underground elevator had pushed them up. Once on the surface, the ground beneath their feet looked exactly as it had beforehand.

Brennan had grown stronger, but still needed a little help getting inside and buckled into his seat. Once settled, the Helix rose into the air, hovering.

"Jesse? Aren't you forgetting something?"

"Oh. Sorry." Down on the ground, the wheelchair winked out of existence. .

* * *

As the four emerged into Sanctuary they all felt the difference. Sanctuary no longer felt like home.

"I just want to sleep for a week," Brennan said, headed towards his bedroom. "You wanna join me?" he asked Jesse.

Jesse hesitated and then shook his head. "I need to deal with Adam."

"He can wait until tomorrow, or even the next day," Emma interjected. "We could all use some rest. Something tells me we're not off the roller coaster yet, but I don't think we can take it right now."

Jesse still waffled. "But... what if he finds a way in? I don't want to risk it. Risk us."

Shal stepped to his side, putting her hand to the side of Jesse's face. "Tell you what. You and Brennan go grab some sleep. Emma, you too – you all look beat, but the cat in me wouldn't mind prowling around a bit. I'll keep watch while you guys rest."

Jesse thought about it for a moment, and then smiled softly. "Thanks, Shal. I thought I would be too worried to sleep, but I think knowing that you are out here, guarding us – well, what better protection could we have?"

Shalimar visibly preened under the praise. "You better believe it. Now get to bed, all of you."

* * *

In Brennan's room, he and Jesse spooned on the bed. Brennan kissed Jesse softly and then whispered. "We've got so much to catch up on."

Jesse responded with another kiss, one that was disrupted by Brennan yawning. "Bored with me already?" Jesse smirked.

"Sorry, babe. Never tire of you, but am so tired," he answered, yawning again.

Jesse warmed at Brennan calling him 'babe', though he never thought he'd be one of _those_ people... the pet name people, but apparently he was. "Don't worry about it, sexy. You can make it up to me later."

"Sexy, huh?"

"Bren, even if they put sex on a stick, wrapped it in bacon, deep fried it and dipped it in ranch dressing, it still wouldn't come close to you." Jesse stilled, taking in the amused expression on Brennan's face. "What?"

Brennan pressed a kiss to his lover's lips. "You are a weird guy, Jesse Kilmartin, and I love you more than you know."

Jesse smiled. "I love you, too. Now get some rest."

* * *

Shalimar checked the security system for at least the tenth time. No sign of intrusion had been detected, either physically or through the data network. Adam seemed to know that it was time to keep his distance.

She sat back in her chair and thought about the freedom of running through the woods – the power, the agility, the speed. "Well, I need to patrol the perimeter anyway," she said to the empty room. "Why not?"

She quickly stripped out of her clothes, thinking that she'd have to come up with some easy-off outfit to wear on missions so that she could transform easily. "Easy-off outfit for work," she giggled, "that sounds all kinds of wrong."

Deciding that the more deadly claws that came with a larger cat form might be too damaging on the floors, Shal decided that her house cat shape was more suitable. As she thought about it, she realized a regular cat was perfect for surveillance anyway. Who'd suspect the pretty kitty?

Once feline, she took a moment for proper grooming, as any cat would, and then bounded out of the room.

* * *

Patrol over, she took a few minutes to play, dashing from place to place, jumping from level to level, enjoying her four-footed-self immensely. Turning the Sanctuary into her own personal race track, she sped through the halls, zipping around corners, bouncing off walls when needed.

In one of those hallways, at a right turn, she expected to see only wall, but instead saw a door – a door that shouldn't be there. An access panel perched next to the door. Considering that there were only a few areas of Sanctuary that required access codes once inside, Shal knew she'd never seen this one before.

Her body quickly shifted back to human and the door and access panel vanished, as she expected. Wondering what other cloaked items she might find, she sped off in cat form once again, this time with a mission.

* * *

Brennan rolled over, ignoring the knocking on the door.

"Guys? Come on. Time to get up!"

"Go away, Shal!" Jesse called back, snuggling closer to his lover's back and pulling a pillow over his head to drown out her voice.

_This is important, Jess. Shal's found something._

"That's not fair, Em!"

_Well, if you want us to check out the secret room without you..._

"Secret room?"

"Huh?" Brennan asked, sleepily.

"Em says Shal found a secret room and they want us to check it out with them," Jesse explained, now eager to get up, tugging on Brennan's shoulder. "We've got to get up!"

Brennan groaned.

"Come on, Bren. Maybe we'll finally get some answers."

--10/28/09


End file.
